THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

PROFESSOR 
EUGENE  I.  McCORMAC 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

(The  statue  at  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  unveiled  September  2,  1912.     Repro 
duced  with  the  courteous  permission  of  the  sculptor,  Daniel  C.  French.) 

.  .  .  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new 
birth  of  freedom,  and  that  government  of  the  peo 
ple,  ~by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from,  the  earth.—  GETTYSBURG  ADDBESS. 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


AMERICAN   PEOPLE 


BY 

WILLIS   MASON    WEST 

SOMETIME   PROFESSOR   OF   HISTORY   AND   HEAD    OF  THE   DEPARTMENT 
IN   THE  UNIVERSITY   OF   MINNESOTA 


ALLYN    AND     BACON 

Boston  Nefo  gorfe  Chicago 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


COPYRIGHT,  1918, 
BY  WILLIS  MASON  WEST. 


PAN 


NorfoootJ  tyre&s 

3.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


FOREWORD 

THIS  book  is  for  high-school  use.  It  is  based  in  a  measure 
upon  my  American  History  and  Government,  but  it  is  a  new 
work,  not  a  revision.  The  story  is  simpler,  and,  I  hope,  more 
graphic.  Much  less  space  is  given  to  political  features,  and 
much  more  to  the  industrial  and  social  life  of  the  people. 
And  the  Great  War  compels  a  new  perspective  for  all  recent 
history. 

Four  features  are  emphasized  more  than  is  common  in  books 
of  this  class  :  (1)  the  historical  grounds  for  friendship  between 
America  and  England,  in  spite  of  old  sins  and  misunderstand 
ings  ;  (2)  the  meaning  of  the  West  in  American  history  ; 
(3)  the  heroic  labor  movement  of  1825-1840,  usually  ignored  ; 
and  (4)  the  long  conflict  between  intrenched  "  privilege  "  and 
the  "  progressive  "  forces  in  State  and  Nation. 

I  have  tried  also  to  correct  the  common  delusion  which 
looks  back  for  a  golden  age  —  to  Jefferson  or  John  Winthrop  — 
and  to  show  instead  that  the  democracy  of  to-day,  imperfect 
as  it  is,  is  more  complete  than  that  of  our  earlier  periods. 
Throughout  I  have  not  hesitated  to  portray  the  weaknesses, 
blunders,  and  sins  of  democracy.  My  own  faith  is  strong  that 
the  cure  for  those  ills  is  to  be  found  in  more  democracy. 
I  should  care  little  to  write  upon  American  history  did  I  not 
believe  that  a  fair  presentation  must  strengthen  that  faith  in 
generous-minded  youth. 

The  volume  closes  with  a  war  chapter,  which  necessarily  is 
exceedingly  imperfect.  Mighty  changes  impend,  and  war 
clouds  obscure  them.  But  among  those  facts  that  stay  our 
hope  for  America  there  towers  one  shining  truth.  The  call  to 
arms  of  last  April  met  its  most  prompt  and  splendid  response 


vi  FOREWORD 

from  the  students  and  recent  graduates  of  our  high  schools. 
These  schools  have  been  much  criticized,  perhaps  with  some 
reason,  for  failing  to  fit  for  business  or  for  industrial  life  ;  but 
they  have  now  justified  themselves  gloriously.  Even  more 
than  any  admirer  had  claimed,  they  have  proved  that  they 
have  given  to  American  youth  a  true  sense  of  world  values,  a 
fine,  robust  idealism,  and  a  nobly  quiet  readiness  to  live  or  die 
for  those  ideals,  —  to  do  their  bit  for  world-righteousness.  To 
the  youth  so  trained  in  those  schools,  and  now  embattled  in 
the  mighty  conflict  "  to  save  democracy,"  I  humbly  dedicate 
3  this  book. 

WILLIS  MASON  WEST. 
WINDAGO  FARM, 

January,  1918. 

The   present   reprint   of   this   book   contains    changes   and 
additions  bringing  it  down  to  date. 

w.  M.  w. 
June,  1920. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

LIST  OF  MAPS  AND  PLANS          .        ....        ,        .         .  xi 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS       . . .      ...         .         .  .      *  .      .        .  xiii 

PART  I.     THE   ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA,   TO   1660 

CHAPTER 

I.     WHAT  THE  ENGLISH  FOUND  .         .         .....         .  1 

II.     ENGLAND'S  RIVALS         .        .         .         .         »        .         .  7 

III.  MOTIVES  OF  EARLY  ENGLISH  COLONIZATION         .         .15 

IV.  EARLY  VIRGINIA,  TO  1624     .  !/  V        .        '/    :  .      '   .  23 
V.     VIRGINIA  SAVES  HER  ASSEMBLY  .       '  .*  •     .        .         .  38 

VI.     MARYLAND:   A  PROPRIETARY  PROVINCE       .-*-.,.  44 

VII.     THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND     .        *        *   '     .  50 

VIII.     THE  PLYMOUTH  PILGRIMS      .        *        .        .    .    .         .  53 

IX.     THE  FOUNDING  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  COLONY         .  66 

X.     MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  :    ARISTOCRACY  vs.  DEMOCRACY  78 

XI.     DEVELOPMENT  OF  POLITICAL  MACHINERY     ...  87 

XII.     LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  NEW  ENGLAND        .         .         .  93 

XIII.  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  IDEAL  :  ARISTOCRATIC  THEOCRACY  96 

XIV.  OTHER  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES  .         .         .         .         .  103 
XV.     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION    .         .         .         .  Ill 

PART  II.     COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1660-1763 

XVI.     THE  STRUGGLE  TO  SAVE  SELF-GOVERNMENT,  1660-1690  114 

XVII.     "COLONIAL  AMERICANS,"  1690-1763    .         .         .         .142 

XVIII.     COLONIAL  LIFE       ....    rV       :';7..'sl*f.  156 

PART  III.  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND 

XIX.     How  THE  FRENCH  WARS  PREPARED  FOR  THE  REVO 
LUTION 178 

XX.     UNDERLYING  CAUSES  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  .        .        .  185 
vii 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XXI.     TEN  YEARS  OF  AGITATION     . 
XXII.     FROM  COLONIES  TO  COMMONWEALTHS 

XXIII.  THE  NEW  STATE  CONSTITUTIONS  . 

(The  trend  toward  Democracy) 

XXIV.  CONGRESS  AND  THE  WAR 


PAGE 

196 
211 
223 


PART  IV.     THE   MAKING   OF   THE   SECOND    WEST 

XXV.     BIRTH  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 244 

XXVI.     THE  SOUTHWEST:    SELF-DEVELOPED     .         .         .         .  246 

XXVII.     THE  NORTHWEST  :   A  NATIONAL  DOMAIN  257 


PART  V.     MAKING  THE   CONSTITUTION 

XXVIII.     THE  "  LEAGUE  OF  FRIENDSHIP  "   .         .         .    7  .         .  271 

XXIX.     THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  .         .        *        .  .•*  '  .  283 

XXX.     THE  CONSTITUTION         v       M     .        .'       .  .    :     .  293 

XXXI.     RATIFICATION  ,  306 


PART  VI.     FEDERALIST   ORGANIZATION,    1789-1801 

XXXII.  GROWTH  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION     .   f (.t,        ,    (     .         .  313 

XXXIII.  HAMILTON'S  FINANCE      .         .         .         .         .         .  s ,  (  .  322 

XXXIV.  NORTH  AND  SOUTH         .         .         .         .,,.,.  327 
XXXV.  RISE  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES.        .        .       /;       .        .  330 

XXXVI.  FOREIGN  RELATIONS       .        .        .        .        ...  335 

XXXVII.  DOMESTIC  TROUBLES,  1797-1800  .  o    ..;;    •        «        -  343 

XXXVIII.  EXPIRING  FEDERALISM  .                                                    .  348 


PART  VII.     JEFFERSONIAN  REPUBLICANISM,  1800-1830 

XXXIX.  AMERICA  IN  1800    .         .        .        .         .        .        ,         .  354 

XL.  THE  "REVOLUTION"  OF  1800       .       V     '  .;  f    ;.         .  369 

XLI.  TERRITORIAL  EXPANSION 385 

XLII.  WAR  OF  1812          .        .      ,  .      .  .  ^,,.  M    .      ..         .  395 

XLIII.  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  THE  UNION    .  .  402 


CONTENTS  ix 
PART   VIII.     A  NEW   AMERICANISM,   1815-1830 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

XLIV.     A  THIRD  WEST 409 

XLV.     FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :   MONROE  DOCTRINE    .         .         .  423 

XLVI.     NATIONALISM  AND  REACTION 429 

PART  IX.     A  NEW   DEMOCRACY,    1830-1850 

XLVII.     THE  AMERICA  OF  1830-1850 442 

XL VIII.     THE  AWAKENING  OF  LABOR 447 

XLIX.     INTELLECTUAL  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS  ....  466 

L.     THE  "REVOLUTION"  OF  1828 476 

LI.     THE  JACKSON  PERIOD,  1829-1841          .         .         .         .485 

PART   X.     SLAVERY 

LH.  SLAVERY  TO  1844 504 

LIIL  SLAVERY  AND  EXPANSION:  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  .  515 

LIV.  STRUGGLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  NEW  TERRITORY  .  .  520 

LV.  BREAKDOWN  OF  COMPROMISE 527 

LVI.  ON  THE  EVE  OF  THE  FINAL  STRUGGLE  .  .  .  541 

PART  XI.     NATIONALISM   VICTORIOUS,    1860-1876 

LVII.     THE  CALL  TO  ARMS 551 

LVIII.     THE  CIVIL  WAR 558 

LIX.     RECONSTRUCTION 581 

LX.     THE  CLOSE  OF  AN  ERA 593 

PART   XII.     A   BUSINESS   AGE,    1876-1918 

LXI.     NATIONAL  GROWTH 603 

LXII.     CIVIL  SERVICE  AND  THE  TARIFF  .....  612 

LXIII.     GREENBACKS  AND  FREE  SILVER 624 

LXIV.     AMERICA  A  WORLD  POWER  :    WAR  WITH  SPAIN  .         .  631 

LXV.     THE  PEOPLE  vs.  PRIVILEGE 646 

LXVI.     FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 667 

LXVII.     THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  .                                             ,  703 


X  CONTENTS 

APPENDIX 

PAGE 

I.     THE  CONSTITUTION,  WITH  NOTES        .  ';    -.         „         .  .         1 

II.     A  SELECT  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  HIGH  SCHOOLS.        ...       18 

INDEX.  23 


MAPS   AND   PLANS 

- 

NUMBER  PAGB 

1 .  Lines  of  equal  temperature  for  the  Northern  Hemisphere  .        .  2 

2.  Indian  portages  and  French  posts  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Full  page.     Colored facing  10 

3.  Sixteenth-century  English  map  of  the  New  World     ...  18 

4.  Virginia  in  1606-1608  .........  24 

5.  The  possible  Virginias  of  1609 29 

6.  Settlement  in  Virginia  in  1624 31 

7.  Virginia  and  New  England  in  1620 51 

8.  New  England  in  1640 107 

9.  English  America,  1660-1690.     Full  page.     Colored    .       facing  115 

10.  The  watercourse  "  fall  line "        .         .        .        .       4" '.  ~   .        .  143 

11.  European  possessions  in  America  at  different  dates.     Full  page. 

Colored.      . .        .      . ,:     .  .        .        .                 .       facing  147 

12.  Colonial  governments  —  charter,    proprietary,    and   royal  —  at 

two  periods.     Full  page.     Colored        .        .         .       facing  150 

13.  Boundaries  for  the  United  States  proposed  by  France  in  1782. 

Full  page.     Colored       .      ;.    -J facing  241 

14.  The  United  States  in  1783,  nominal  and  actual.     Full  page. 

Colored.       *        .    ...        .-...-;..      facing  242 

15.  Western  settlement,  1769-1784    .'•-••».     .        .     '   .        .        .  246 

16.  The  United  States  in  1783  :  state  cessions.     Full  page.     Col 

ored        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .       facing  259 

17.  Proposed  States  in  the  Ordinance  of  1784    .        .        .        .        .  261 

18.  United  States  Survey  —  base  lines  and  meridians        .                 .  265 

19.  Township  and  section  subdivided         .        .        ./      ..       .        .  266 

20.  Frontier  lines  of  1774,  1790,  and  1820.     Full  page.     Colored. 

facing  269 

21.  Physical  outline  of  the  United  States 357 

22.  Movement  of  centers  of  population  and  of  manufacturing .        .  358 

23.  The  United  States  in  1800.     Full  page.     Colored        .       facing  359 

24.  North  America  in  1800.     Full  page.     Colored     .        .       facing  385 

25.  "  West  Florida  ":  three  maps 390 

26.  Explorations  of  Lewis  and  Clark.    Full  page.    Colored      facing  390 

27.  Indian  cessions,  18.16-1830 412 

xi 


Xll 


MAPS  AND  PLANS 


NUMBER 

28.  The  National  Eoad      '.        .        . 

29.  Distribution  of  population  in  1820 


30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 
38. 
39. 
40. 
41. 
42. 
43. 
44. 
45. 
46. 


49. 
50. 
51. 
52. 


PAGE 

414 
418 


House  vote  on  the  tariff  of  1816 432 


Colored 


Colored 


facing 


Colored        facing 


House  vote  on  the  tariff  of  1828  .  .'  .  .  .  - 
Presidential  election  of  1824  :  electoral  vote  .... 
Presidential  election  of  1825  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
Distribution  of  industrial  plants  in  1833  ..... 
Presidential  election  of  1828  .;.-••  »J-^-! 
Territorial  growth,  1800-1853.  Full  page. 
Vote  on  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  .  && 
Presidential  election  of  1856  ...'.» 
Railway  extension,  1830-1860.  Full  page. 
Wheat  areas  in  1860  ..... 
Distribution  of  population  in  1860  .'•  .'  *  ; 
Presidential  election  of  1860.  Double  page. 
Union  and  Confederacy  in  1862  .  .  . 
Scene  of  the  Civil  War  .  .  .'  r  v 
Union  and  Confederacy  after  Gettysburg  . 
Emancipation  .  .  ,  .  .  "s.  :  «'.  .' 

47.  Railway  land  grants,  1850-1871 

48.  Presidential  election  of  1876.     Double  page. 
Increase  in  population  from  1900  to  1910    .        . 
The  United  States  of  1918.     Double  page.     Colored 
Railway  extension,  1870-1880.     Full  page.     Colored 
Presidential  election  of  1916 


after 


Colored         after 


after 
facing 


433 
438 
439 
451 
486 
519 
531 
534 
540 
543 
545 
550 
558 
559 
564 
573 
595 
596 
603 
604 
607 
719 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

NUMBER 

1.  Lincoln   (from  the  statue  by  Daniel  C.  French  at  Lincoln, 

Nebraska)    .        ...        .        ...        .       Frontispiece 

PACK 

2.  An  Algonkin  village.     From  Beverly's  History  of  Virginia      .  4 

3.  Columbus  at  the  court  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella      ...  7 

4.  De  Soto  discovering  the  Mississippi    ......  8 

5.  La  Salle  taking  possession  of  the  Mississippi  valley  for  France  9 

6.  Champlain's  fight  with  the  Iroquois 11 

7.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  at  thirty-four       .     •  V  >-'"V-  •'  .        .        .  15 

8.  Title  page  of  Hakluyt's  Voyages        .  -      .        .        %     ";i        .  19 

9.  Queen  Elizabeth  knighting  Drake      .    -     .  *     'I;       .  ^    •   i?    .  21 

10.  Jamestown  in  1622      .        .     :    .    •    ^     ;.-    .!      V-v'1    .  26 

11.  Captain  John  Smith   .       .;i :•-<>...:•                      .       •. ••*'             .  28 

12.  Proclamation  of  the  "Virginia  Lottery  "  of  1615      .  -""V  '\  .  30 

13.  Sir  Edwin  Sandys       .        .'    .    .  • 31 

14.  Facsimile   of   first    page    of    King  James'    Counterblaste  to 

Tobacco       ......       *'-/  <;'V •'  •'  V'">- ;:.':  ! '".  35 

15.  Charles  I     ..'..-    .    .  \^,^  ^  ^^^.^  •^^•^'^  ^  ^^   .  40 

16.  George  Calvert    .....        .        .        i*:-    ;  '   -v    '<   .  44 

17.  Facsimile  of  Baltimore's  "  Instructions  "  regarding  Protestants  48 

18.  Plymouth  Pilgrims  going  to  meeting  .         .  •     .         .         .         .  53 

19.  The  Mayflower  in  Plymouth  Harbor 57 

20.  The     Mayflower    Compact :     a    facsimile    from    Bradford's 

Plimouth  Plantation  .        .        .        ,      »V.-   rr  ;'   • '-w  ;    ^.  58 

21.  Edward  Winslow  at  the  age  of  six     .        .        ••'••»        •  60 

22.  Edward  Winslow  at  fifty-seven 64 

23.  John  Winthrop 70 

24.  A  kettle  said  to  be  the  first  iron  casting  made  in  America        .  75 

25.  Facsimile  of  the  grant  of  part  of  New  England  to  Robert  Gorges  76 

26.  The  Cradock  House  (1636)  at  Medford      .        .        .  78 

27.  John  Cotton 80 

28.  Standish  House  at  Duxbury 85 

29.  Facsimile  from  the  "  Body  of  Liberties  " 90 

30.  **  Marks  "  of  Indian  chieftains  on  a  "  covenant"  with  Massa 

chusetts        91 

xiii 


XIV  ILLUSTRATIONS 

NUMBER  PAGB 

31.  Statue  of  Koger  Williams  at  Providence 99 

32.  Sir  Harry  Vane  .        .        .        J':v 101 

33.  An  old  grist  mill  (1645)  in  Connecticut 106 

34.  Signatures  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  New  England  Confed 

eration  in  1653     .        .        .        .*'•".'.        .        .        .     112 

35.  An  English  schooner  of  colonial  times       .        ..        .        .        .117 

36.  A  Pine-tree  shilling    .        .        .        .      '. ..,     .        .        .        .120 

37.  Boston's  summons  to  Andros     .        .        ......     125 

38.  Sir  William  Berkeley          .....        .        .        .        .     128 

39.  Ruins  of  the  Jamestown  church         .;       .        .        .        .        .     130 

40.  The  Half  Moon  of  Henry  Hudson      .        .        .        .        .        .     135 

41.  William  Penn  at  twenty-two      .     ,;-.        .       ..        '.        .        .136 

42.  Penn's  Treaty  with  the  Indians        ..      .  .        ..,.-.        .138 

43.  Colonial  fireplace  and  utensils    .  ; '  ....       .        .        .        .        .     148 

.  44.  Facsimile  of  a  petition  of  Simon  Bradstreet's  heirs  for  "back 

pay"    .        ...        .     ,-,-„     ,.!;->     £       *--...  i.        .  152 

45.  The  "  Witch  House  "  in  Salem  .        .        .        .        ....  161 

46.  Franklin's  printing  press    .        .        .        ....        .  164 

47.  Facsimile  from  the  New  England  Primer  .    -.'.«,        .        ..        .  165 

48.  Facsimile  of  "Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep"  from  the  New 

England  Primer  .        '.-..'     .        ..='..  .     166 

49.  Advertisement  for  a  runaway  White  servant  in  1755        .  .     169 

50.  A  colonial  footstove    ........        .        .  .     172 

51.  Massachusetts  paper  money  of  1690  .        .        .    -    .•      „  .     173 

52.  Mount  Vernon   .      '.        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  .174 

53.  The  "  Old-Ship  "  Meeting  House  at  Hingham  .        .        .  .     175 

54.  Fort  Steuben      .         .        .,,•;;     !.'.     .        ...  .     176 

55.  A  colonial  cartoon  :  reception  of  a  bishop  in  New  England  .     186 

56.  Handbill  of  the  New  York  Sons  of  Liberty  —  "  We  Dare  "  .198 

57.  Facsimile  of  the  Pennsylvania  Journal  announcing  its  discon 

tinuance  on  account  of  the  Stamp  Act        ....     199 

58.  Paul  Revere 's  engraving  of  the  landing  of  British  troops  .        .     203 

59.  Carpenters'  Hall,  Philadelphia .209 

60.  The  Concord  Minute  Man          .        .        .        .        *      •  *>        .     212 

61.  The  Washington  Elm  at  Cambridge  .  i       .     ,  .        .        .        .213 

62.  The  Concord  Fight     .•;.^^.^.        v- 216 

63.  Facsimile  of  the  opening  of  Jefferson's  draft  of  the  Declaration 

of  Independence  .        .        .    :   ..  ^    -*  '.  v      >  ••»••    .  .  220 

64.  The  "  Bunker  Hill  "  Flag  .       '.       >-    .        .       ••'  ;;<-  •'.-'-  .  225 

65.  The  first  "  Flag  of  the  United  Colonies  "  .  ,-•:•„  ;  .  «  •    .  .  226 

66.  The  Old  North  Church  at  Boston  ,  227 


ILLUSTRATIONS  XV 


67.  Continental  currency 233 

68.  Old  schoolhouse  at  Valley  Forge 234 

69.  Colonel  Tarleton      -. 238 

70.  Surrender  of  Cornwallis     . 239 

71.  Crossed  swords  :  England  and  America    .....  242 

72.  Boonesboro  in  winter 248 

73.  A"BooneTree"       .    .  .. .  249 

74.  Daniel  Boone      .        .               -.  -'     .        .        .        .        .        .  252 

75.  A  Mississippi  flatboat          ; 255 

76.  An  Ohio  mill  of  1790  ..'•.    ; 256 

77.  Manasseh  Cutler         .        .                 262 

78.  Benjamin  Franklin     .        .        .        ....        .        .        .  289 

79.  George  Mason     ..  -|.|      •."<    .*••'.- 298 

80.  "Eighth  Federal  Pillar  raised"  :  the  ratification  of  the  Con 

stitution       .        .        ."       .        .        .      -*•;  i<  .        .        .  309 

81.  George  Washington ,     *.vt  ^\<   .  314 

82.  John  Adams        .        ....       ..    •    .  ;>;  y'    ••••''' '  '•••  •''  •-••-• '-':-  '  '•  341 

83.  Alexander  Hamilton  .        .        .        .:>•*' \;       ^- w*        .  353 

84.  An  early  cotton  gin    .        ...       V'/^       .':^i        •        •  360 

85.  Farm  tools  in  1800      .       .."      V •'•  ••-•  ••*. .-> - -v  '.  ••;'•'*  •'•   i ••-.,'.-•       .  361 

86.  Harvard  College  about  1770        .       .t      ,'?;,- :    w.    »..:-      .  365 

87.  A  colonial  spinning  wheel  from  Daniel  Webster's  home    .        .  367 

88.  A  Conestoga  wagon .  382 

89.  Cincinnati  in  1810       .        .        ...        .     -  .        .  '<H\,'       .383 

90.  Fulton's  Clermont      .-,#<•,    v~\;  .        .        .        .  ''  'U-      .  384 

91.  Meriwether  Lewis       .        .        .    i   .        .        .        .  '      i"       .  393 

92.  An  American  merchant  ship  of  1800          .        .        .?      '<        .  396 

93.  Photographic  reproduction  ^of  part  of  the  Boston  Centinel  for 

November  9,  1814  :  secession  tendencies     .        .     v;,»-      .  407 

94.  Monticello  .        ,        .        .        .        .        ,        .        .        .        .  411 

95.  Fulton's  The  Union   .        ...      V       .        .        .        .413 

96.  John  C.  Calhoun         .        .        .        .  -      ...        .        .  416 

97.  Birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln         .                 .-       .        .        .  419 

98.  Thomas  Jefferson        .        .        .        *        .        .        .        .        .  426 

99.  Chicago  in  1831  .        .        .        .        ^        .        .        .        .        .444 

100.  Time  card  of  a  Providence  machine  shop  in  1848      .                 .  463 

101.  Harvesting  in  1831      .        .        .        .        .        ...      .        .  472 

102.  Harvesting  to-day .,  '     .  473 

103.  The  "  De Witt  Clinton  "  locomotive 474 

104.  A  Jackson  cartoon  :  "  Clar  de  kitchen  " 479 

105.  The  original  "  Gerrymander "    .        .        .        .        .        .        .  484 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

NUMBER  PAGE 

106.  A  Jackson  print,  —  "  Presenting  the  Eagle  "     .;      .    -    ..'      .  493 

107.  The  United  States  Treasury       .         .        .        .    •    .       V  ;<-  .  496 

108.  Statue  of  Wendell  Phillips  in  Boston         .       ...        .  •••:'    .  510 

109.  An  Anti-Fugitive-Slave-Law  handbill  of  1851    .    •'-.        .        .528 

110.  President  Lincoln  and  General  McClellan  at  Antictam     .         .  560 

111.  The  Confederate  blockade-runner  Teazer  .•••••  =  *        ...  561 

112.  Monitor  and  Merrimac       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  562 

113.  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  in  1865       .        .        .       ;.    -   .        .  563 

114.  Winter  quarters  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  1862      .  578 

115.  Headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Brandy  Station  579 

116.  The  Capitol  at  Washington         .        .        .    .•;*:••    .        .        .  600 

117.  Ellis  Island          ...        ...        .        .        .-      «.'•.•<;•        .  604 

118.  "  Future  Americans "        .•        ...      .- .  •     .    '->• fv  "r"    .        .  605 

119.  Cotton  levee  at  New  Orleans      .        .        »        .     l   .     :   .        .  606 

120.  The  United  States  Customs  House  at  New  York        .    .     .        .  612 

121.  A  modern  steel  plant  at  Pittsburgh   .        .        .        *        ••        •  623 

122.  William  Jennings  Bryan     .                 .       . .        .        ;.        .        .  629 

123.  A  "  sixteen-inch  "  gun  for  the  Panama  Canal  .        . '  ;  /.        .  643 

124.  Forging  a  railway-car  axle          .    .     .        .        .        .•       .        .  648 

125.  The  biggest  electric  locomotive  .        .        .      >:.        .        .        .  654 

126.  Shearing  off  steel  slabs        .        .      •  V        .        .        .        .        .  659 

127.  Woodrow  Wilson  when  Governor  of  New  Jersey      .    '    .        .  660 

128.  Wilson  and  Gompers  at  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in 

1916      ........     '  .        .        .        .  676 

129.  Woodrow  Wilson  addressing  Congress  on  the  eight-hour  law  .  677 

130.  The  Minnesota  State  Capitol      .         .        .        .-       .        *        .  683 

131.  The  Arrow  Rock  Dam  in  Idaho         .        .  *      .   '     .        ;-'       .  692 

132.  Building  the  "  Pacific  Highway  "  through  Oregon    .        .        .  701 

133.  The  Capitol  illuminated 721 


HISTORY 


OF   THE 


AMERICAN  PEOPLE 


THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

PART  I 

THE  ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA 


CHAPTER   I 

WHAT   THE  ENGLISH  FOUND 

1.  OUR  early  history  has  to  do  with  the  Appalachian  coast 
only.     That  fringe  of  the  continent  was  more  like  the  Euro 
pean  homes  of  the  early  colonists  than  is  any  other  large  dis 
trict  in  America.     The  lives  of  the  English  settlers  were  far 
less  changed  than  if  they  had  colonized  the  Mississippi  valley 
or  the  Pacific  coast. 

2.  The  Appalachian  coast,  however,  does  differ  from  the  European 
coast  of  the  Atlantic  in  two  vital  matters :  —  (1)  Tlie  summers 
are  hotter  and  the  winters  colder  than  in  Europe.     Unexpected 
fevers   in   one  season,  and  unforeseen   freezing  in  the  other, 
ruined  more  than  one  attempt  at  settlement.     Captain  Wey- 
mouth  explored  the  region  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec, 
in  the  spring  of  1605,  and  brought  back  to  England  glowing 
reports  of  a  balmy  climate  "  like  that  of  southern  France " ; 
but  the  colonists  who  tried  to  settle   there  two   years  later 
(§  26)  suffered  cruelly  from  a  winter  like  that  of  Norway. 

(2)  As  one  goes  from  north  to  south,  the  climate  changes  more 
siciftly  in  America  than  in  Europe.  In  their  settlements,  be 
tween  Maine  and  Florida,  English  colonists  encountered  cli 
mates  as  different  as  they  would  have  found  in  the  Old  World 

1 


WHAT  THE   ENGLISH  FOUND 


[§3 


if  they  had  spread  out  from  Norway  to  the  Sahara.  This 
sharp  difference  between  north  and  south  was  one  reason  why 
Virginian  Englishman  and  New  England  Englishman  grew 
apart  in  life  and  character. 

3.  The  soil,  too,  and  the  natural  products,  varied  from  north  to 
south.  The  rich  lands  of  the  south  were  suited  to  the  culti 
vation  of  tobacco  or  rice  or  cotton,  in  large  tracts,  by  slaves 
or  bond  servants.  The  middle  district  could  raise  foodstuffs 


LINES  OF  EQUAL  TEMPERATURE.1 

on  a  large  scale.  The  north  was  less  fertile  :  farming  was  not 
profitable  there  except  in  small  holdings,  with  trustworthy 
"  help " ;  but  the  pine  and  oak  forests  of  that  region,  its 
harbors,  and  the  fish  in  its  seas,  invited  to  lumbering,  fishing, 
ship-building,  and  commerce.  Each  section  had  its  distinct 
set  of  industries,  and  so  came  to  have  its  peculiar  habits  of 
living. 

1  This  map  illustrates  some  of  the  points  of  §  2.  The  line  marked  20° 
February  is  supposed  to  run  through  places  that  have  an  average  tempera 
ture  of  20°  Fahrenheit  for  the  month  of  February.  The  two  dotted  lines 
bound  a  zone  of  climate  that  is  sometimes  called  "  the  true  temperate  zone." 
The  heavy  February  lines  bound  a  zone  of  climate  that  includes  all  the  Ap 
palachian  district.  Plainly,  zones  of  climate  are  narrower  in  America  than 
in  Europe. 


§  5]  NATURAL  ADVANTAGES  3 

4.  Communication  from  north  to  south  was  difficult.     Colony 
was  often  divided   from  colony,  or   groups  of  colonies  were 
divided  from  one  another,  by  arms  of  the  sea.     Even  when  two 
colonies  lay  side  by  side  without  intervening  bays,  there  were 
still  no  roads  from  north  to  south.     The  chief  highways  were 
the  rivers,  running  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.     As  a  rule, 
a  colony  found  it  about  as  convenient  to  hold  communication 
with  England  as  with  its  neighbor  on  either  side.     This  lack 
of   intercourse  hindered  the  different  sections  from   growing 
together  in  feeling  and  character. 

5.  The  features  of  geography  noticed  so  far  all  tended  to 
"sectionalism."     But  this   evil  was   more  than  offset  by  two 
advantages  that  geography  gave  the  English  over  their  European 
rivals  in   America.     The   territory  colonized   by  England  was 
more  accessible  and  more  compact  than  that  held  by  France  or 
Spain.     It  was  easier  for  the  English  to  get  into  America  than 
for  the  others;  and  it  was  not  so  easy  after  they  got  there 
for  them  to  weaken  themselves  at  once  by  scattering  widely. 

(Accessibility.)  The  small  sailing  vessels  of  that  day  found  easy 
access  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  with  its  countless  little  harbors.  That  re 
gion  invited  European  settlement  much  more  than  did  the  vast  inland 
valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  where  the  French  cast 
their  fortunes.  Sometimes  we  speak  of  these  great  river  systems  as 
"  gateways  to  the  continent "  ;  and  so  they  are  to  the  interior.  But,  in  the 
early  days,  men  did  not  care  to  go  far  into  the  interior.  They  liked  better 
the  fringe  of  the  continent,  where  they  could  keep  closer  touch  with  the 
Old  World.  Moreover,  in  the  districts  near  the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers, 
neither  climate  nor  soil  was  suitable  for  European  settlers  ;  and,  in  the 
days  before  steamships,  vessels  could  hardly  ascend  the  Mississippi,  above 
New  Orleans,  because  of  the  swift  current  and  the  countless  obstructions. 

(Compactness.)  The  Appalachians  kept  the  colonists  from  spreading 
too  rapidly  as  they  grew  strong.  These  mountains  are  not  lofty;  but 
they  are  rugged  and  they  were  then  covered  with  forests  tangled  with 
underbrush  and  vines,  so  as  to  be  singularly  impassable.  Four  rivers 
broke  the  niountain  wall  — the  Potomac,  Delaware,  Susquehanna,  and 
Hudson-Mohawk :  but,  without  more  engineering  skill  than  belonged  to 
that  day,  only  the  Mohawk  could  be  used  as  a  road  to  the  inner  country ; 
and  that  route  was  closed  by  the  Iroquois  Indians. 


WHAT  THE   ENGLISH  FOUND 


[§6 


6.  Three  groups  of  Indian  peoples  held  the  country  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic,  —  the  Gulf  tribes,  the  Algon- 
kins,  and  the  Iroquois. 

The  Gulf  tribes  (Choctaws,  Seminoles,  Creeks)  had  made  the 
most  progress  toward  civilization ;  but  they  were  too  far  south 
and  west  to  affect  White  settlement  much  until  the  beginnings 
of  Georgia  and  Tennessee,  almost  at  the  end  of  the  colonial 
period. 

The  roaming  Algonkins  were  the  largest  of  the  three  groups, 
but  also  the  weakest  and  least  civilized.  Numbering  from 


AN  ALGONKIN  VILLAGE.  From  Beverly's  History  of  Virginia  (1701) ;  based 
on  a  picture  by  John  White  (one  of  Raleigh's  colonists)  in  1585,  now  in 
the  British  Museum.  The  palisades  must  have  been  twelve  feet  high. 
Probably  a  spring  of  water  was  found  inside.  The  fields  of  corn  and 
tobacco  in  the  rear  were  common  property.  Ceremonial  dances  were  held 
within  the  circle  of  posts  about  the  "  lodge  "  in  the  foreground. 

75,000  to  100,000  souls,  —  thinly  scattered  in  a  multitude 
of  petty,  mutually  hostile  tribes,  —  they  "  haunted,  rather 
than  inhabited,  a  vast  hunting  preserve  "  stretching  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi  and  from  the  Ohio  to  the  fai 
north.  To  this  group  belonged  the  Powhatans,  Delawares, 
Narragansetts,  Pequods,  Mohegans,  and,  indeed,  nearly  all 
the  tribes  with  which  the  early  English  settlers  came  in 
hostile  contact. 


§  8]  THE   NATIVES  5 

Tlie  Iroquois  Confederacy  was  the  strongest  native  power 
for  war.  They  numbered  about  10,000,  and  lived  in  compact, 
fortified  villages,  in  Western  New  York. 

We  have  little  accurate  knowledge  about  the  numbers  of  the  natives. 
Scholars  now  agree  that  those  east  of  the  Mississippi  did  not  exceed 
200,000.  Many  a  single  city  in  our  country  to-day  contains  more  people 
than  dwelt  in  all  the  continent,  north  of  Mexico,  when  Europeans  first 
touched  its  shores. 

7.  The  distribution  of  the  native  peoples  affected  vitally  the 
success  of  European  settlement.     The  Spaniards  in  South  and 
Central  America  had   to  deal  only  with  races  gentler  than 
any   of   these   North   American  Indians.      So   the   Spaniards 
conquered  too  rapidly.     They  overran  the  continent  faster  than 
they  could  occupy  it.     Their  rule,  too,  was  built  upon  the 
slavery  of  the  natives.     The  conquerors  mixed   their  blood 
with  this  enslaved  population  until  their  own  nationality  was 
lost. 

The  French,  in  the  north,  came  into  conflict  with  the  formi 
dable  Iroquois  ;  and  deadly  blows  by  this  fierce  confederacy  did 
much  to  prevent  French  mastery  of  America. 

TJie  English,  in  their  time  of  weakness,  touched  only  the 
Algonkins,  who  could  not  seriously  endanger  European  settle 
ment.  At  the  same  time,  the  Algonkins  were  untamable  ;  and 
so  the  English  did  not  mix  blood  with  them.  And  they  were 
dangerous  enough  to  scattered  settlements  to  help  keep  the 
English  colonies  fairly  compact,  down  to  the  Revolution. 
This  compact  settlement  gave  opportunity  for  true  civiliza 
tion,  and  it  made  possible  the  union  of  the  colonies  against 
England,  when  the  time  came.  Both  nature  and  the  natives, 
seeming  unkind  to  the  English  colonist,  were  really  kinder  to  him 
than  to  his  rivals. 

8.  In   certain   ways   the   Indians   aided   English   colonization 
directly.      They    furnished    the    first    settlements    with    the 
"  Indian  corn "  that  warded   off   starvation ;   and  soon  they 
taught  the  colonists  to  plant  both  corn  (maize)  and  tobacco  — 
the  two  native  products  of  supreme  value  in  the  early  period. 


6  WHAT  THE  ENGLISH  FOUND  [§  8 

Maize  was  long  the  main  food  supply.  European  grains  failed  in  the 
new  climate  season  after  season,  while  the  colonist  was  learning  the  new 
conditions.  Moreover,  to  clear  and  prepare  the  soil  for  wheat  or  barley 
took  much  time.  Maize  was  a  surer  crop  and  needed  less  toil.  The 
colonist  learned  from  the  Indian  to  raise  it,  at  need,  without  even  clearing 
the  forest,  —  merely  girdling  the  trees  to  kill  the  foliage,  and  planting 
among  the  standing  trunks.  It  was  no  accident  that  this  Indian  grain 
came  to  be  called  "  corn,"  the  general  name  for  European  grains. 

Tobacco  the  colonist  exchanged  for  European  goods.  If  Indian  corn 
enabled  him  to  live  through  the  first  hard  years,  it  was  tobacco  that  first 
made  him  rich. 

Colonies  too  far  north  to  raise  tobacco  found  their  first  wealth 
in  furs ;  and  these,  too,  they  obtained  mainly  from  native 
hunters.  Indian  wampum  at  times  made  an  important  part  of 
colonial  money.  Forest  trails,  worn  into  deep  paths  by  the  feet 
of  generations  of  Redmen,  became  highways  for  White  travel.1 
Water  routes,  too,  discovered  by  native  pilots  in  birch  canoes, 
were  adopted  by  White  traders.  And  stations  for  the  exchange 
of  furs,  where  certain  trails  and  waterways  joined,  became 
the  sites  of  mighty  cities  like  Milwaukee,  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
and  Duluth. 

1  Cf.  map  facing  page  10.  The  New  York  Central  Railroad  follows  the  old 
Iroquois  trail  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson  ;  and  in  Minneapolis  one  of  the 
finest  streets  (Hennepin  Avenue)  is  an  ancient  Indian  trail  from  the  neighbor 
ing  Lake  Harriet  to  the  Mississippi  just  above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 


CHAPTER  II 

ENGLAND'S   RIVALS 

9.  Spain  was  first  in  the  field  in  American  colonization. 
During  the  crusades,  Europe  had  learned  to  depend  on  Asiatic 
spices,  sugars,  cottons,  silks,  and  metalwares,  as  luxuries  and 
even  as  daily  necessities.  For  two  hundred  years  a  vast 
caravan  trade  brought  these  articles,  in  a  steady  stream,  from 


COLUMBUS  AT  THE  COURT  OF  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA.    From  the  imagi 
native  painting  by  Brozik  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  in  New  York  City. 

central  Asia  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ;  but  in 
the  fifteenth  century  the  rise  of  Turkish  barbarians  in  Asia 
Minor  closed  this  route.  Europe,  just  then  awaking  from  the 
long  torpor  of  the  Middle  Ages,  eagerly  sought  new  trade 
routes  into  Asia.  Portugal  found  one,  to  the  south,  around 
Africa.  Columbus,  aided  by  the  Spanish  Isabella,  tried  a  still 

7 


8 


ENGLAND'S  RIVALS 


[§10 


bolder  western  road  —  and  stumbled  on  America  in  his  path 
(Modern  World,  §§  255,  343). 

10.  This  discovery  marked  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  next  century  in  the  New  World  was  Spain's.  The  story 
of  her  conquest  is  a  tale  of  heroic  endeavor,  marred  by  revolt 
ing  ferocity.  The  details,  as  an  old  Spanish  chronicler  said, 
are  "  all  horrid  transactions,  nothing  pleasant  in  any  of  them." 

Not  till  twenty  years  after  the  discovery,  did  the  Spaniards 
advance  to  the  mainland  for  settlement ;  but,  once  begun,  her 


DE  SOTO  DISCOVERING  THE  MISSISSIPPI.     From  the  imaginative  painting 
by  William  H.  Powell  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 

handfuls  of  adventurers  swooped  swiftly  north  and  south.  By 
1550,  she  held  not  only  all  South  America  (save  Portugal's 
Brazil),  but  also  all  Central  America,  Mexico,  the  Californias 
far  up  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  Floridas.  The  gold  from 
Mexico  and  Peru  helped  to  give  Spain  her  proud  place  as  the 
most  powerful  country  in  Europe  through  most  of  the  sixteenth 
century ;  and  she  guarded  her  American  possessions  jealously. 
The  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean  were  Spanish  lakes, 
and  the  whole  Pacific  was  a  "closed  sea."  Frenchman  or 
Englishman,  caught  upon  those  waters,  was  put  to  death. 


§12] 


PRANCE   IN  AMERICA 


9 


11.  Nor  was  Spain  content  with  even  this  huge  empire  on 
land  and  sea.     She  was  planning  grandly  to  occupy  the  Missis 
sippi  valley  and  the  Appalachian  slope  in  America,  and  to 
seize  Holland  and  England  in  Europe  ;  but,  in  1588,  she  received 
a  fatal  check.     The  gallant  English  "  sea-dogs  "  destroyed  the 
"Invincible   Armada"   in  a  wonderful   nine-days7   sea  fight. 
That  victory  did  more  than  merely  save  England  :  it  marked  a 
turning  point  in  World  history.      Spain  never  recovered  her 
old  supremacy  upon  the  sea,  and  so  other  European  peoples  were 
left  free  to    try  their 

fortunes  in  America. 

12.  For    a    time, 
France    seemed    most 
likely  to  succeed  Spain 
as   mistress   of   North 
America.     A    quarter 
of  a  century  went  to 
exploration  and  fail 
ures.     Then,  in  1608, 
Champlain  founded  a 
French    colony    at 
Quebec.    Soon,  canoe- 
fleets  of  traders  and 
missionaries  were 
coasting  the  shores  of 

the  Great  Lakes  and  establishing  French  stations  there  — 
at  points  still  known  by  French  names.  Finally,  in  1682, 
after  years  of  splendid  effort,  LaSalle  succeeded  in  following 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf,  setting  up  a  French  claim  to 
the  entire  valley. 

In  later  years  New  France  consisted  of  the  colony  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  in  the  far  north,  and  the  semi-tropical  colony  of 
New  Orleans,  joined  to  each  other,  along  the  interior  water 
ways,  by  a  slight  chain  of  trading  posts  and  military  stations 
—  Detroit,  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Vincennes,  Kaskaskia,  St.  Louis, 
and  the  like  (map  facing  next  page). 


LA  SALLE  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  MISSIS 
SIPPI  VALLEY  FOR  FRANCE,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river.  From  an  imaginative  painting  by 
Marchand  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  in  1904. 


10  ENGLAND'S  RIVALS  [§  13 

13.  From  the  beginning  of  this  colonization,  it  was  plain  that 
France    and    England   were   the  real   rivals   for   the  control   of 
eastern   North   America.      The    open    struggle    between    them 
began  in  1689,  and  lasted  some  seventy  years  in  a  series  of 
wars,  until  France  was  thrust  out  of  the  continent  in  1763. 

14.  It  is  easy  to  point  out  certain  French  advantages.      At 
home  French  statesmen  worked  steadily  to  build  a  French 
empire  in  America,  while  the   English  government  ignored 
English  colonies.     The  thought   of   such  an  empire,  too,  in 
spired  French  explorers  in  the  wilderness,  —  splendid  patriots 
like  Champlain,  Rlbault,  and  LaSalle.     France  also  sent  forth 
the  most  zealous  of  missionaries  to  convert  the  savages.     TJiese 
two   mighty  motives,  patriotism  and   missionary  zeal,  played   a 
greater  part  in  founding  Neiv  France  than  in  establishing  either 
Spanish  or  English  colonies.     Moreover,  the  French  could  deal 
with   the   natives  better  than  the  less  sympathetic   English 
could,  and  their  leaders  were  men  of  far-reaching  views. 

Why,  then,  did  France  fail  ? 

15.  The  chief  external  cause  of  French  failure  was  the  relentless 
hatred  of  the  Iroquois.     Curiously  enough,  it  was  the  ability 
of  the  French  to  make  friends  with  the  natives  which  brought 
upon  them  this  terrible  scourge.     Champlain  (§  12)  came  first 
in  touch  with  Algonkin  tribes,  and  won  their  friendship.     He 
accompanied  these  allies  on  the  warpath  against)  their  Iroquois 
foes,  and  so  earned  Iroquois  hatred  for  New  France. 

The  Iroquois  hindered  French  success  in  four  distinct  ways. 

TJiey  annihilated  the  Huron  Indians,  whom  French  mission 
aries,  after  many  heroic  martyrdoms,  had  Christianized,  and 
upon  whom  the  French  had  hoped  to  build  a  native  civilization. 

At  times  they  struck  terrible  blows  at  New  France  itself.1 

They  shielded  the  English  colonies,  during  their  weakness, 
from  French  attack.  The  French  in  Canada  could  strike  at  the 
English  only  by  way  of  the  route  followed  later  by  Burgoyne. 

1  Mrs.  Catherwood's  Romance  of  Bollard  tells  the  glorious  story  of  one 
critical  conflict.  Pollard  and  his  band  of  heroes  were  to  Quebec  what 
Leonidas  and  his  Three  Hundred  were  to  Greece. 


FRENCH  POSTS  AND 

INDIAN  PORTAGES 

HTH  CENTURY 


§  15]  THE   FAILURE   OF  FRANCE        ,  11 

Everywhere  else  the  wilderness  between  Canada  and  the  Eng 
lish  settlements  was  impassable  except  by  prowling  bands; 
and  this  one  route  was  guarded  by  the  Iroquois. 

Tliey  changed  the  whole  course  of  French  exploration,  turning 
it  to  the  north.  The  home  of  the  confederacy  was  in  Western 
New  York,  —  "  the  military  key  to  the  eastern  half  of  the 
continent."  (So  Winfield  Scott  called  it,  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
afterward.)  It  commanded  the  headwaters  of  the  Delaware, 
Susquehanna,  and  Mohawk-Hudson  system,  and  the  portage 


CHAMPLAIN'S  FIGHT  WITH  THE  IROQUOIS,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain. 
From  Les  Voyages  du  Sieur  de  Champlain  (Paris,  1613),  the  volume  in 
which  this  lake  is  first  given  Champlain's  name. 

at  Niagara  from  Erie  to  Ontario,  as  well  as  part  of  the  head 
waters  of  the  Ohio. 

The  French  leaders  had  keen  eyes  for  military  geography 
and  would  certainly  have  seized  this  position  at  any  cost,  if 
they  had  been  able  to  learn  its  character.  They  would  then 
have  fortified  the  Ohio  by  a  chain  of  posts,  as  they  did  their 
other  waterways ;  and  this  would  have  buttressed  their  posi 
tion  on  the  Mississippi  and  the  Lakes  so  as  to  defy  attack. 
But  they  did  not  learn  the  importance  of  the  Ohio  valley  until 


12  ENGLAND'S  RIVALS  [§  16 

too  late,  Montreal  was  founded  in  1611 ;  but,  instead  of 
reaching  the  interior  from  there  by  the  upper  St.  Lawrence 
and  Lake  Erie,  French  traders  turned  up  the  Ottawa,  so  as  to 
avoid  the  Iroquois,  and  reached  Lake  Huron  by  portage  from 
Nipissing.  Lake  Erie  was  the  last,  instead  of  the  first,  of  the 
Lakes  to  be  explored.  It  was  practically  unused  until  after 
1700,  and  the  country  to  the  south  remained  unknown  even 
longer.  Navigation  was  by  fleets  of  canoes,  which  had  to  land 
frequently.  Thus,  because  of  the  Iroquois,  the  French  could 
not  follow  the  southern  shore,  nor  use  the  portage  at  Niagara. 
When  they  awakened  to  the  value  of  the  Ohio  valley,  English 
traders  had  begun  to  push  into  it,  with  cheaper  goods ; 1  and 
the  opportunity  for  France  was  already  lost. 

16.  Inherent  weaknesses  in  French  colonization,  however, 
were  the  fundamental  cause  of  French  failure.  Three  essentials 
were  lacking  :  homes,  individual  enterprise,  and  political  life. 

New  France  was  not  a  country  of  homes  or  of  agriculture. 
Except  for  a  few  leaders  and  the  missionaries,  the  settlers 
were  either  unprogressive  peasants  or  reckless  adventurers. 
For  the  most  part  they  did  not  bring  families  ;  and  they  re 
mained  unmarried  or  chose  Indian  wives.  Agriculture  was 
the  only  basis  for  a  permanent  colony  ;  but  these  colonists  did 
not  take  to  any  regular  labor.  Instead,  they  turned  to  trap 
ping  and  the  fur  trade,  and  tended  to  adopt  Indian  habits. 
The  French  government  in  Europe  sought  in  vain  to  remedy 
this  by  sending  over  cargoes  of  "  king's  girls,"  and  by  offering 
bonuses  for  early  marriages  and  large  families.  But  even 
with  this  fostering,  French  colonization  did  not  produce  num 
bers.  In  1754  when  the  final  struggle  for  the  American  con 
tinent  began,  France  had  three  times  as  many  people  as 
England  had,  but  in  America  she  had  only  a  twentieth  as 
many  colonists. 

Paternalism  smothered  private  enterprise.  In  all  industries, 
New  France  was  taught  to  depend  upon  the  aid  and  direction 

1  England's  industrial  superiority  over  France  was  one  factor  in  winning 
America.  After  1725  that  superiority  was  marked. 


§  16]  THE   FAILURE   OF  FRANCE  13 

of  a  government  three  thousand  miles  away.  Aid  was  con 
stantly  asked  from  the  King.  "  Send  us  money  to  build  store 
houses/'  ran  the  begging  letters  of  Canadian  officials ;  "  Send 
us  a  teacher  to  make  sailors  "  ;  "  We  want  a  surgeon " ;  and 
so,  at  various  times,  requests  for  brickmakers,  ironworkers, 
pilots,  and  other  skilled  workers.  Such  requests  were  usually 
granted ;  but  New  France  did  not  learn  to  walk  alone.  The 
rulers  did  much ;  but  the  people  did  little. 

Political  life  was  lacking.  In  the  seventeenth  century 
France  itself  was  a  centralized  despotism  ; 1  and  in  New  France 
(to  use  the  phrase  of  Tocqueville)  "this  deformity  was  seen 
magnified  as  through  a  microscope."  No  public  meetings  were 
permitted  without  a  special  license ;  and  such  meetings,  when 
held,  could  do  nothing  worth  while.  All  sorts  of  matters,  even 
the  regulation  of  inns  and  of  pew  rent,  the  order  in  which 
people  should  sit  in  church,  the  keeping  of  dogs  and  of  cattle, 
the  pay  of  chimney  sweeps,  were  dealt  with  not  by  local  legis 
latures  or  village  councils,  but  by  ordinances  of  the  governors 
at  Quebec,  who  were  sent  over  by  the  French  King.  "  It  is  of 
the  greatest  importance,"  wrote  one  official,  "  that  the  people 
should  not  be  at  liberty  to  speak  their  minds." 

Worse  even  than  that  —  the  people  had  no  minds  to  speak. 
In  1672,  Frontenac,  the  greatest  governor  of  New  France,  tried 
to  introduce  the  elements  of  self-government.  He  provided  a 
system  of  "  estates  "  to  advise  with  him,  —  a  gathering  of  clergy, 
nobles,  and  commons  (citizens  and  merchants) ;  and  he  ordered 
that  Quebec  should  have  a  sort  of  town  meeting  twice  a  year  to 
elect  aldermen  and  to  discuss  public  business.  But  the  home 
government  sternly  disapproved  all  this,  directing  Frontenac 
to  remember  that  it  was  "  proper  that  each  should  speak  for 
himself,  and  no  one  for  the  whole."  The  plan  fell  to  pieces  ;  the 
people  cared  so  little  for  it  that  they  made  no  effort  to  save  it. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  The  plan  of  this  volume  forbids  extended 
class  work  upon  the  topics  touched  in  chapters  i  and  ii ;  but  the  books 
named  below  may  be  explored  by  the  student  who  desires  to  read  further. 

i  Modern  World,  §§  25,  516. 


14     -  ENGLAND'S  RIVALS  [§  16 

ON  THE  DISCOVERY  AND  ITS  PERIOD. — Payne,  "Age  of  Discovery" 
in  Cambridge  Modern  History,  I  (an  admirable  treatment  in  thirty  pages)  ; 
Fiske,  Discovery  of  America  ;  Cheyney,  European  Background  of  Ameri 
can  History ;  Becker,  Beginnings  of  the  American  People,  1-36. 

ON  ENGLAND'S  RIVALS.  —  Moses,  Spanish  Rule  in  America ;  Bourne, 
Spain  in  America  ;  Thwaites,  France  in  America  ;  Parkman's  Histories, 
especially,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Half  Century  of  Conflict,  and  The  Old 
Regime  in  Canada.  Gilbert  Parker's  earlier  stories,  particularly  The 
Trail  of  the  Sword  and  parts  of  Pierre  and  His  People,  picture  vividly 
the  Canadian  colonial  type. 

EXERCISE.  —  Brief,  rapid  answers  (oral  or  written)  on  the  following 
topics,  —  the  answers  to  be  given  concisely  and,  as  a  rule,  in  single  words 
or  phrases,  rather  than  in  sentences. 

1.  Two  contrasts  between  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Europe  and  that  of 
North  America  which  affected  colonization  materially  ?  2.  How  did 
each  of  these  factors  work  ?  3.  Two  advantages  from  physical  geography 
to  English  colonization,  as  compared  with  French  or  Spanish  coloniza 
tion  ?  (Two  words  suffice  for  this  answer.)  4.  Three  distinct  advan 
tages  possessed  by  the  French  in  their  attempt  to  occupy  America  ? 
5.  Three  causes  of  French  failure  ?  6.  Three  distinct  ways  in  which 
the  Iroquois  hindered  French  success  ? 

(Let  each  student  present  four  or  five  more  questions.) 


CHAPTER    III 


THE  MOTIVES   OF   EARLY  ENGLISH   COLONIZATION 

Virginia  was  founded   by  a  great  liberal  movement  aiming  at  the 
spread  of  English  freedom  and  of  English  empire.  —  HENRY  ADAMS. 

17.  The  first  impulse  to  English  colonization  came  from  Eng 
lish  patriotism.  When  Elizabeth's  reign  was  half  completed, 
little  England  entered  upon  a  daring  rivalry  with  the  over 
shadowing  might  of  Spain. 
Out  of  that  rivalry,  English 
America  was  born.  Reck 
less  and  picturesque  free 
booters,  like  Drake  and 
Hawkins,  sought  profit 
and  honor  for  themselves, 
and  injury  to  the  foe,  by 
raiding  rich  provinces  of 
Spanish  America.  More 
far-sighted  statesmen,  like 
Raleigh,  saw  that  English 
colonies  in  America  would 
be  "a  great  bridle  to  the 
Indies  of  the  Kinge  of 
Spaine,"1  and  began  to 
try  so  to  "put  a  byt 
in  the  anchent  enymys 
mouth." 


SIR  WALTER  RALEIGH  AT  THIRTY-FOUR. 
From  a  portrait  ascribed  to  Zuccaro,  now 
in  the  National  Gallery,  London. 


1  This  phrase  heads  a  chapter  in  a  pamphlet  on  Western  Planting  written 
in  1684,  at  Raleigh's  request,  by  Richard  Hakluyt,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England.  The  text  urges :  —  "  If  you  touch  him  [Spain]  in  the  Indies,  you 
touch  him  in  the  apple  of  his  eye.  For,  take  away  his  treasure,  — which  he 
has  almost  wholly  out  of  his  West  Indies,  —  his  olde  bandes  of  souldiers  will 
soon  be  dissolved,  his  purposes  defeated,  his  power  diminished,  his  pride 
abated,  and  his  tyranie  utterly  suppressed  "  (Source  Book,  No.  3). 

15 


16  ENGLAND'S  MOTIVES  [§  18 

18.  But  to   found  a   colony  in   those  days  was  harder   than 
we   can  well   comprehend.      The   mere   outlay   of   money  was 
enormous  for  that   time.     Ships  had  little  storage  room ;   so 
freights  were  high,  and  the  best  accommodations  were  poorer 
than   modern   steerage.     To   carry  a   man   from   England   to 
America  cost  from  £10  to  £12,  or  about  $300  in  our  values.1 
To  provide  his  outfit  and  to  support  him  until  he  could  raise 
a  crop,  cost  as  much  more.     Thus  to   establish   a   family  in 
America  took  some  thousands  of  dollars. 

Moreover,  there  were  no  ships  ready  for  the  business,  and 
no  supplies.  The  directors  of  the  early  colonizing  movements 
met  all  sorts  of  costly  delays  and  vexations.  They  had  to 
buy  ships,  or  build  them ;  and,  in  Channing's  phrase,  they 
had  to  buy  food  for  the  voyages  "  on  the  hoof  or  in  the  shock," 
and  clothing  "  on  the  sheep's  back."  They  had  also  to  provide 
government,  medicines,  fortifications,  military  supplies,  and 
food  to  meet  a  possible  crop  failure.  Much  money,  too,  was 
sure  to  be  lost  in  experimenting  with  unfit  industries  under 
untried  conditions  —  as  in  the  futile  attempts  to  produce  silk 
and  make  glass  in  Virginia. 

19.  The  English  crown  founded  no   colonies,  nor  did  it  give 
money  toward  founding  any.     It  did  give  charters  to  those  men 
who  were  willing  to  risk  their  fortunes  in  the  attempt.     These 
charters  were  grants  of  territory  and   of  authority  over  future 
settlers.     Thus  the  English  colonies  (with  a  few  accidental  ex 
ceptions,  which  will  be  noticed)  were  at  first  proprietary.     The 
proprietor  might  be  an  individual  or  an  English  corporation.     In 
either  case,  the  proprietor  owned  the  land  and  ruled  the  settlers. 

20.  The  first  colonial  charter  was  granted  by  Elizabeth,  in 
1578,  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert.     Gilbert  made  two  attempts  at 
a  colony,  —  starting  out  the  first  time  with  eleven  ships  and 
nearly  600  colonists,  and   the   second   time  with  260  picked 
settlers.     Spanish    hostility   kept   the   first   expedition   from 
reaching  America.     The  second,  in  the  spring  of  1583,  entered 
St.  John's  Harbor   on   the  New  Foundland  coast.     Gilbert's 

1  In  1600,  money  was  worth  five  or  six  times  as  much  as  now. 


§  22]  SIR   WALTER   RALEIGH  17 

claims  were  recognized  readily  by  the  captains  of  the  "  thirty- 
six  ships  of  all  nations  "  present  there  for  the  fisheries ;  but 
desertion  and  disaster  weakened  the  colonists,  and  in  August 
the  survivors  sailed  for  England.  Gilbert  had  sunk  his  for 
tune,  and  he  himself  perished  on  the  return.  Song  and  story 
dwell  fondly  on  the  Christian  knight's  last  words,  shouted 
cheerily  through  the  storm-wrack  from  his  sinking  little  ship 
to  comfort  friends  on  the  larger  consort,  — "  The  way  to 
heaven  is  as  near  by  sea  as  by  land." 

Gilbert's  enterprise  was  taken  up  at  once  by  his  half  brother, 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  most  gallant  figure  of  that  daring 
age.  In  1584,  Raleigh  received  a  charter  copied  from  Gil 
bert's.  In  the  next  three  years  he  sent  three  expeditions 
to  Roanoke  Island  on  the  Carolina  coast,  each  time  in  con 
siderable  fleets.  His  first  explorers  declared  the  new  land 
"  the  most  plentiful,  sweet,  fruitful,  and  wholesome  of  all  the 
world,"  and  the  natives  were  affirmed  to  be  "  such  as  live  after 
the  manner  of  the  golden  age."  But  supplies  and  reinforce 
ments  were  delayed  by  the  struggle  with  the  Spanish  Armada ; 
and  when  the  next  supply  ships  did  arrive,  the  colonists  had 
vanished  without  trace. 

21.  Raleigh  had  spent  a  vast  fortune  (a  million  dollars  in  our  values)  ; 
and,  though  he  sent  ships  from  time  to  time  to  search  for  the  lost  colo 
nists,  he  could  make  no  further  attempt  at  settlement.     Still,  despite 
their  failures,  Gilbert  and  Raleigh  are  the  fathers  of  American  colonization. 
The  tremendous  and  unforeseen  difficulties  of  the  enterprise  overmatched 
even  the  indomitable  will  of  these  Elizabethan  heroes  ;  but  their  efforts 
had  aroused  their  countrymen  and  made  success  certain  in  the  near  future. 
With  pathetic  courage,  when  in  prison  and  near  his  death,  Raleigh 
wrote,  —  "I  shall  yet  see  it  [America]  an  English  nation." 

22.  For   twenty-five    years,   attempts   at   colonization  had 
failed,  largely  because  the  life-and-death  struggle  with  Spain 
in  Europe  drained  England's  energies.     Worse  was  to  come. 
James  I  (1603)  sought  Spanish  friendship ;  and  then  indeed 
Englishmen  began   to   feel  their  chance  for  empire  slipping 
through  their  fingers. 


ENGLAND'S  MOTIVES 


SIXTEENTH-CENTURY  ENGLISH  MAP  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

But  splendid  memories  of  the  great  Elizabethan  days  still 
stirred  men's  hearts  ;  and,  as  a  protest  against  James7  dastard 
policy  in  Europe,  the  fever  for  colonization  awoke  again  in  the 
heart  of  the  nation.  Men  said  a  terrible  mistake  had  been 


§23] 


MOTIVES  OP  THE  COLONISTS 


THE  PRINCIPAL! 

N  \V1GATION. S,VO1  A 


made  when  Henry  VII  refused  to  adopt  the  enterprise  of 
Columbus  ;  and  they  insisted  vehemently  that  England  should 
not  now  abandon  Virginia  —  "  this  one  enterprise  left  unto  these 
days."  Raleigh  had  found  part  of  his  money  by  forming  a 
partnership  with  some  London  merchants.  In  1606,  some  of 
these  same  merchants  organized  a  large  stock  company  to 

build  a  colony,  and  secured     ^ 

from  King  James  a  grant 
known  as  the  Charter  of 
1606,  or  the  First  Virginia 
Charter. 

23.  This  company  was 
of  course  a  commercial 
enterprise.  No  doubt  some 
of  its  members  cared  only 
for  financial  gain.  Even 
its  great  leaders  cared  for 
this  end  ;  but,  like  Raleigh 
and  Gilbert  (§  17),  they 
cared  more  to  build  up  the 
power  of  England. 

They  wished  also  to 
Christianize  the  savages. 
This  purpose  faded  soon 
for  actual  colonists,  but  it 
long  continued  powerful 
in  England.  The  great 
clergymen  who  guided  the 

Church  of  England  (then  recently  cut  off  frbm  Rome)  could  not 
rest  content  with  "  this  little  English  paddock  "  while  Rome  was 
winning  new  continents  to  herself  by  her  devoted  missionaries  ; 
nor  could  these  good  churchmen  help  squirming  under  the  taunt 
of  the  Romanists  "  shewinge  that  they  are  the  true  Catholicke 
churche  because  they  have  bene  the  onelie  converters  of  many 
millions  of  infidells."  "  Yea,"  confesses  the  chagrined  Hak- 
luyt  (note,  page  15),  "  I  myself  have  bene  demaunded  of  them 


TITLE  PAGE  OF  HAKLUYT'S  VOYAGES. 


20  ENGLAND'S  MOTIVES  [§  24 

how  many  infidells  have  bene  by  us  converted."  Such  Eng 
lishmen  cared  for  the  London  Company  mainly  in  its  aspect  as 
a  foreign  missionary  society  —  the  first  in  the  Protestant  world  ; 
and  this  missionary  character  brought  the  Company  many  gifts 
of  money  from  outsiders  (Source  Book,  No.  26  c). 

For  many  years,  even  this  great  Company  had  to  struggle 
with  discouragement  and  distress.  But  its  pamphlets,  urging 
people  to  buy  stock,  did  not  place  emphasis  on  any  hope  of  large 
dividends  —  as  we  expect  a  prospectus  of  a  commercial  company 
to  do  —  but  rather  on  the  meanness  and  "  avarice  "  of  the  man 
who  would  "save"  his  money  instead  of  using  it  to  extend 
English  freedom  and  the  kingdom  of  God  (Source  Book, 
Nos.  5-7).  It  was  these  high  enthusiasms,  far  more  than  it 
was  greed,  that  brought  hundreds  of  the  noblest  of  Englishmen 
to  the  rescue  of  the  enterprise. 

24.  So  far  we  have  looked  only  at  the  motives  of  English 
men  who  stayed  at  home  and  there  helped  to  promote  American 
colonization.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  motives  of  the  colonists. 

In  1600,  England  needed  room.  True,  the  island  had  still  only 
a  tenth  as  many  people  as  to-day ;  but,  as  industry  was  carried 
on  in  that  day,  its  four  millions  were  more  crowded  than  its 
forty  millions  are  now.  For  the  small  farmers,  especially,  life 
had  become  very  hard  (Modern  World,  §  415)  ;  and  these  yeomen 
furnished  most  of  the  manual  labor  in  the  early  colonies. 

Few  of  this  class  could  pay  the  cost  of  transporting  themselves  and 
their  families  to  America  ;  and  so  commonly  they  were  glad  to  bind  them 
selves  by  written  "indentures"  to  become  "servants"  to  some  wealthy 
proprietor.  That  is,  these  indentured  servants  mortgaged  their  labor  for 
four  years,  or  seven  yfcars,  in  return  for  transportation  and  subsistence, 
and  perhaps  for  a  tract  of  wild  land  at  the  end  of  their  term  of  service. 

Captains  and  capitalists  came  from  the  English  gentry  class. 
Until  the  peace  with  Spain  in  1604,  many  high-spirited  youth 
had  been  fighting  Spain  in  the  Netherlands,  for  Dutch  inde 
pendence  ;  and  others  had  made  the  "  gentlemen-adventurers  " 
who,  under  leaders  like  Drake,  had  paralyzed  the  far-flung 
domains  of  New  Spain  with  fear.  To  these  men,  and  to  many 


§  24]  MOTIVES  OF  THE   COLONISTS  21 

"  younger  sons  "  of  gentry  families  for  whom  there  was  now  no 
career  at  home,  America  beckoned  alluringly  as  the  land  of  op- 
portunity  and  adventure.  The  period,  too,  was  one  of  rapid 
rise  in  the  cost  of  living  ; l  and  the  heads  of  some  good  families 
found  themselves  unable  to  keep  pace  with  old  associates. 
Some  of  these  men  preferred  leadership  in  the  New  World 
to  taking  in  sail  at  home. 

None  of  these  "  gentlemen  "  were  used  to  steady  work,  and 
they  were  restive  under  discipline  ;   so  sometimes  they  drew 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH  KNIGHTING  DRAKE,  on  board  the  Golden  Hind  on  his 
return  from  raiding  Spanish  America  in  his  voyage  round  the  globe  (1581). 
From  a  drawing  by  Sir  John  Gilbert. 

down  abuse  from  strict  commanders  like  the  worthy  Captain 
John  Smith.  But  they  were  of  that "  restless,  pushing  material 
of  which  the  world's  best  pathfinders  have  ever  been  made  "  ; 
and  when  they  had  learned  the  needs  of  frontier  life,  their 
pluck  and  endurance  made  them  splendid  colonists.2 

1  Channing,  United  States,  1, 143-144.  *  Source  Book,  No.  17. 


22  ENGLAND'S  MOTIVES  [§  24 

No  doubt,  the  chief  loadstone  for  most  early  settlers  of  all 
classes  was  some  wild  dream  of  wealth  (Source  Book,  Nos.  8-9). 
In  the  first  colonies,  too,  the  expectations  of  sudden  riches  were 
more  extravagant  than  in  later  attempts,  and  led  for  a  time  to 
disastrous  neglect  of  the  right  sort  of  work.  Still  the  motive 
was  a  proper  one.  It  calls  for  no  sneer.  The  same  desire  to 
better  one's  condition,  in  a  later  century,  lured  the  descend 
ants  of  the  first  settlers  to  people  the  continent  from  the 
Appalachians  to  the  Golden  Gate. 

Moreover,  the  motive  was  not  mere  greed.  The  youth  was 
moved  by  a  vision  of  romance  and  adventure.  He  was  drawn 
partly  by  the  glitter  of  gold,  but  quite  as  much  by  the  mystery 
of  new  lands  bosomed  in  the  beauty  of  unknown  seas.  Best  of 
all,  these  motives  of  gain  and  of  noble  adventure  were  infused 
with  a  high  patriotism.  Englishmen  knew  that  in  building  their 
own  fortunes  on  that  distant  frontier,  just  as  truly  as  when  they 
had  trod  the  deck  of  Drake's  ship,  they  were  widening  the  power 
of  the  little  home  island,  which  they  rightly  believed  to  be  the 
world's  best  hope. 

FOR  LIBRARY  WORK,  see  suggestions  at  the  close  of  chapter  v.  The 
references  in  the  text  to  the  Source  Book  give  work  enough  where  that 
volume  is  accessible. 


CHAPTER  IV 

EARLY  VIRGINIA 

(A  PROPRIETARY  COLONY,  1607-1624) 

25.  FOUR  points  demand  notice  in  the  Virginia  charter  of 
1606  (§  22). 

Grantees.  The  company  of  stockholders  was  divided  into  two 
sub-companies.  One  of  these  was  made  up  mainly  of  Londoners, 
and  is  known  as  the  London  Company.  The  other  was  made 
up  of  gentlemen  from  the  west  of  England,  and  is  called  the 
Plymouth  Company.  These  proprietary  companies  were  to 
remain  in  England. 

Territory.  The  name  Virginia  then  applied  to  the  whole 
region  claimed  by  England  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  between  the 
Spaniards  on  the  south  and  the  French  on  the  north.  This 
made  a  tract  about  800  miles  long,  reaching  from  the  34th  to 
the  45th  parallel.  Within  this  territory,  each  company  was  to 
have  a  district  100  miles  along  the  coast  and  100  miles  inland, 
—  the  London  Company's  tract  to  be  located  somewhere  in 
southern  Virginia,  the  Plymouth  Company's  somewhere  in 
the  north. 

The  exact  location  of  these  grants  was  to  be  fixed  by  the  position  of  the 
first  settlements.  The  Londoners  were  to  choose  anywhere  between  the 
34th  and  the  41st  parallel  (or  between  Cape  Fear  and  the  Hudson).  The 
western  merchants  were  to  place  their  settlement  anywhere  between  the 
38th  and  the  45th  parallel  (between  the  Potomac  and  Maine).  Neither 
Company  was  to  plant  a  colony  within  a  hundred  miles  of  one  established 
by  the  other. 

This  arrangement  left  the  middle  district,  from  the  Potomac  to  the 
Hudson,  open  to  whichever  Company  should  first  occupy  it.  Probably 
the  King's  intention  was  to  encourage  rivalry  ;  but,  in  fact,  the  dubious 
overlapping  region  was  avoided  by  both  parties.  There  was  room  for  six 
100-mile  locations  outside  of  it. 

23 


24  EARLY  VIRGINIA  [§  26 

Settlers'  rights.  The  charter  gave  the  future  settlers  no 
share  in  governing  themselves ;  but  it  did  promise  them  "  the 
liberties,  franchises,  and  immunities "  of  Englishmen.  This 
clause  (found  also  in  Gilbert's  and  in  nearly  all  later  charters) 
did  not  mean  "  the  right  to  vote "  or  to  hold  office :  not  all 
Englishmen  had  such  privileges  at  home.  It  meant  such  rights 
as  jury  trial,  habeas-corpus  privileges,  and  free  speech,  —  so  far 
as  those  rights  were  then  understood  in  England. 

Government.  In  England  there  was  to  be  a  Council  for 
the  double  company,  with  general  oversight.  In  each  colony 
there  was  to  be  a  lower  Council  appointed  by  that  higher  Council. 
These  local  Councils  were  to  govern  the  settlers  according  to 
laws  to  be  drawn  up  by  the  King. 

The  Instructions  drawn  up  by  James  before  the  first  expedition  sailed 
(Source  Book,  No.  17),  provided  that  death  or  mutilation  could  be  in 
flicted  upon  no  offender  until  after  conviction  by  a  jury,  and  for  only  a 
small  number  of  crimes,  for  that  day  ;  but  the  appointed  Council  were  to 
punish  minor  offenses  (such  as  idling  and  drunkenness)  at  their  discretion, 
by  whipping  or  imprisonment.  This  authority  seems  extreme  to  us,  but 
it  was  much  like  that  possessed  then  by  the  justices  of  an  English  county. 

26.  This  plan  of  government  proved  a  poor  one.  In  England 
it  was  partly  royal  and  partly  proprietary,  without  a  clear  divi 
sion  between  authorities.  In  the  colonies  there  was  no  single 
governor,  but  an  unwieldy  committee.  No  other  English 
colonial  charter  was  so  imperfect  an  instrument  of  government; 
but,  under  this  crude  grant,  was  founded  the  first  permanent 
English  colony.  In  1607,  the  Plymouth  Company  made  a 
fruitless  attempt  at  settlement  on  the  coast  of  Maine  (§  58), 
and  then  remained  inactive  for  twelve  years.  But  in  December 
of  1606  the  London  Company  sent  out,  in  three  small  vessels, 
a  more  successful  expedition  to  "  southern  Virginia." 

The  104  colonists  reached  the  Chesapeake  in  the  spring  of 
1607,  and  planted  Jamestown  on  the  banks  of  a  pleasant  river 
flowing  into  the  south  side  of  the  Bay.  To  avoid  Spanish  at 
tack  from  the  sea,  they  chose  a  site  some  thirty  miles  up  the 
stream.  For  some  years  this  was  the  only  regular  settlement. 


27] 


A  PLANTATION  COLONY 


25 


27.  The  colony  was  a  great  "plantation."  The  company  of 
stockholders  in  England  were  proprietors.  They  directed  the 
enterprise,  selected  settlers,  appointed  officers,  furnished  trans 
portation  and  supplies  and  capital.  The  colonists  were  em 
ployees  and  servants.  They  did  the  work,  —  cleared  forests, 
built  rude  forts  and  towns,  and  raised  crops,  —  facing  disease, 


VIRGINIA 

in  1606-1608 

Southern  Virginia  (London  Company) 
.Northern  Virginia  (Plymouth  Company) 
Open  to  either  Company 


-34 


famine,  and  savage  warfare.  The  managing  Council  at 
Jamestown  were  not  so  much  political  rulers  as  industrial 
overseers.  Their  task  was  a  kind  of  housekeeping  on  a 
large  scale. 

The  products  of  the  settlers'  labor  went  into  a  common  stock. 
Lumber,  sassafras,  dyestuffs,  were  shipped  to  the  Company 
to  help  meet  expenses.  Grain  was  kept  in  colonial  store 
houses,  to  be  guarded  and  distributed  by  a  public  official. 
Here,  too,  were  kept  the  supplies  from  England,  —  medicines, 


26  EARLY  VIRGINIA  [§  28 

clothing,  furniture,  tools,  arms  and  ammunition,  seeds,  stock 
of  all  kinds  for  breeding,  and  such  articles  of  food  as  meal, 
bread,  butter,  cheese,  salt,  meat,  and  preserved  fruits.  For 
many  years  the  existence  of  the  colony  depended  on  the  prompt 
arrival,  every  few  months,  of  a  "  supply ";  and  the  colonists 
measured  time  by  dating  from  "  the  First  Supply,"  or  "  the 
Third  Supply." 

The  system  of  "industry  in  common"  has  frequently  been  called  an  ex 
periment  in  communism.  In  reality  it  was  no  more  communism  than  was 
a  Virginia  slave  plantation  in  1850.  The  London  Company  would  have 
been  the  last  men  to  approve  any  theory  of  communism.  The  common 
industry  and  undivided  profits  were  simply  clumsy  features  of  management 
by  a  distant  proprietary  company. 


JAMESTOWN  IN  1622.    From  a  Dutch  print  of  1707,  based  on  an  old  sketch. 

28.  The  location  of  Jamestown  was  low  and  unhealthy; 
the  committee  government  was  not  suited  to  vigorous  action ; 
and  only  the  stern  school  of  experience  could  teach  men  in 
that  day  how  to  colonize  an  unknown  continent.  The  early 
years  were  a  time  of  cruel  suffering.  TJie  first  summer  saw  two 
thirds  of  the  settlers  perish,  while  most  of  the  rest  were  helpless 
with  fever  much  of  the  time.  Said  one  of  them :  — 


§  31]  THE   STARVING  TIME  27 

"Our  men  were  destroyed  by  cruell  diseases  .  .  .  and  by  warres  ; 
and  some  departed  suddenly,  but  for  the  most  part  they  died  of  meere 
famine.  There  were  never  Englishmen  left  in  a  forreigne  Country  in  such 
miserie  as  wee  were  .  .  .  Our  feed  was  but  a  small  can  of  Barlie,  sod 
in  Water,  to  five  men  a  day  ;  our  drinke,  cold  Water  taken  out  of  the  River, 
which  was  at  flood  verie  Salt,  at  a  low  tide  full  of  slime  and  filth  .  .  . 
Thus  we  lived  for  the  space  of  five  months  in  this  miserable  distresse,  not 
having  five  able  men  to  man  our  Bulwarkes  .  .  .  our  men  night  and 
day  groaning  in  every  corner  of  the  Fort  most  pittiful  to  heare  .  ..  . 
some  departing  out  of  the  World,  many  times  three  or  four  in  a  night,  in 
the  morning  their  bodies  trailed  out  of  their  Cabines,  like  Dogges,  to  be 
burried."  (See  Source  Book  for  more  of  Captain  Percy's  Discourse.) 

The  First  Supply,  in  the  fall  of  1607,  found  only  38  survivors 
at  Jamestown.  Nor  was  this  suffering  then  at  an  end.  For 
20  years  each  new  immigration  lost,  on  an  average,  half  its  mem 
bers  the  first  season. 

29.  From  one  peril  the  colony  was  saved  by  its  very  misery. 
Spain  ivatched  jealously  this  intrusion  into  a  region  ivhich  she 
claimed  as  her  own,  and  the  government  contemplated  an  attack 
upon  Jamestown.     In  particular,  the  Spanish  ambassador  at 
London  urged  his  king  repeatedly  to  have  "  those   insolent 
people  in  Virginia  annihilated."     "  It  will  be  serving  God,"  he 
wrote,  "  to  drive  these  villains  out  and  hang  them."     But  the 
Spanish  spies  in  the  colony  reported  that  it  must  fall  of  itself ; 
and  the  dilatory  Spanish   government,  already  slipping   into 
decay  and  unwilling  needlessly  to  make  King  James  an  enemy, 
failed  to  act  (/Source  Book,  No,  22). 

30.  The  most  interesting  figure  during  the  first  three  years 
was   the   burly,   bustling,   bragging,   efficient    Captain    John 
Smith.      Smith  finally  became  President   of  the   ineffective 
Council.    Then  he  quickly  usurped  all  the  power  of  government, 
and  his  beneficent  tyranny  saved  the  colony  from  ruin.     In 
1609,  however,  he  was  injured  by  an  explosion  of  gunpowder, 
and  went  back  to  England. 

31.  The  next  winter  was  "The  Starving  Time."     A  special 
effort  had  been  made,  the  summer  before,  to  reinforce  the  col 
ony  ;  and  in  the  fall  the  number  of  settlers  had  risen  to  more 


28 


EARLY  VIRGINIA 


[§32 


than  three  hundred.  Spring  found  only  sixty  gaunt  survivors. 
These  had  embarked  to  abandon  the  colony,  with  slight  chance 
of  life  whether  they  went  or  stayed,  when  they  met  Lord  Dela 
ware,  the  new  governor, 
with  a  fleet  bringing  rein 
forcements  and  supplies. 
Had  Delaware  been  later 
by  three  days,  Jamestown 
would  have  been  another 
failure,  to  count  with 
Raleigh's  at  Roanoke. 

32.  Meantime,  the  year 
1609  had  seen  a  remark 
able  outburst  of  enthusi 
asm  in  England  in  behalf 
of  the  sinking  colony. 
Sermons  and  pamphlets 
appealed  to  the  patriotism 
of  the  nation  not  to  let 
this  new  England  perish. 

The  list  of  the  Company's 
CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH.     From  the  wood-cut  .  .     ,  ,  t . 

by  Smith  in  the  corner  of  his  map  of  New  stockholders  was  greatly 
England  [§  58]  in  his  Generall  Histone.  multiplied,  and  came  to 
Smith's  rhyming  inscription  below  the  include  the  most  famous 
picture  refers  to  his  "deeds  more  fair"  •  TT<  i  j  i 

than  his  face.  nameS  m  England>  along 

with  good  men  from  all 

classes  of  society ; 1  and  this  enlarged  London  Company  re 
ceived  enlarged  powers  through  two  new  charters  in  1609  and 
1612.  Three  things  were  accomplished  by  these  grants  :  — 

The  territory  .of  the  Company  ivas  extended.  It  was  made 
to  reach  along  the  coast  each  way  200  miles  from  Point  Com 
fort,  and  "up  into  the  land  throughout  from  sea  to  sea,  west 
and  northwest." 

1  See  note  in  Source  Book  to  No.  20.  Each  of  the  650  subscribers  bought 
from  one  to  ten  shares  of  stock,  at  £12  10  s.  a  share,  or  about  $  400  a  share 
in  our  values.  (Cf.  §  18,  note,  on  the  value  of  money.) 


33] 


"THE   TIME   OF  SLAVERY" 


29 


The  map  shows  two  possible  interpretations  of  this  clumsy  "  northwest " 
phrase.  The  Virginians  themselves  had  no  trouble  in  deciding  which  to 
insist  upon.  Probably  the  words 
"west  and  northwest"  were 
used  vaguely,  with  the  meaning, 
"toward  the  western  ocean," 
which  was  supposed  to  lie  rather 
to  the  northwest. 


THE  TWO  POSSIBLE 

VIRGINIAS 

OF  1G09 


Comfort 


L.L.  PO»TES  EN8.  CO..N.Y 


The  authority  before  kept  by 
the  king  was  now  turned  over 
to  the  Company ;  and  that 
body  received  a  democratic 
organization.  It  was  to  elect 
its  own  "  Treasurer "  and 
Council  (President  and  Di 
rectors,  in  modern  phrase), 
and  to  rule  the  colony  in  all 
respects. 

A  more  efficient  government 
was  provided  in  the  colony. 
There  was  no  hint  yet  of  seZ/-government.  The  Company  in 
England  made  ail  laws  and  appointed  all  officers  for  the  colony. 
But  the  inefficient  plural  head  in  the  colony,  with  its  divisions 
and  jealousies,  was  replaced  by  one  "  principal  governor"  with 
a  Council  to  assist  him. 

33.  Virginia  had  left  anarchy  behind,  but  she  had  not  reached 
liberty.  The  Company  continued  the  "  plantation  "  plan ; 
and  from  1611  to  1616,  its  chief  officer  in  Virginia  was  Sir 
Thomas  Dale.  This  stern  soldier  put  in  force  a  military  gov 
ernment,  with  a  savage  set  of  laws  known  as  Dale's  Code. 

Among  other  provisions,  these  laws  compelled  attendance  at 
divine  worship  daily,  under  penalty  of  six  months  in  the  galleys, 
and  on  Sundays  on  pain  of  death  for  repeated  absence.  Death 
was  the  penalty  also  for  repeated  blasphemy,  for  "  speaking 
evil  of  any  known  article  of  the  Christian  faith,"  for  refusing 
to  answer  the  catechism  of  a  clergyman,  and  for  neglecting  work. 
The  military  courts,  too/  made  use  of  ingeniously  atrocious 


30 


EARLY  VIRGINIA 


[§33 


punishments,  such  as  burning  at  the  stake,  breaking  011  the 
wheel,  or  leaving  bound  to  a  tree  to  starve,  with  a  bodkin  thrust 
through  the  tongue.  These  years  of  tyranny  were  long  remem 
bered  as  "the  time  of  slavery."  An  old  Virginian  historian 


ADeclaration  forthe  certainetimeof  drawingthe  great  (landing  Lorcery. 


F~..-..tn»riufpoini&«mifl)tUiiigso;t>pU)attufhr 
pltaff  tolcawt  i  ••- Ktroar&B  btc 


'Z  is  appai-f « «o  tftt  ftejiD,  6p  ijoa  a  Welcomes 

!  ^^^fSSSS^SuSSi^^^^  ££==**».  <*.„  ?S^J^tT«^!i£^J'ffln'1*  h* 

'  &SSS&S&&&Z  ttr'Ss*s=====:^  ^  [jBKJrasSSSWiaw 

1  not  falling  aun  s  ;-..,  „ ., _ — _,.„  Cw,r, ,  .( [umliraBucnturtB  HbafllKfrrteftBatCWnpati*'  j 

'>        .         .  lw«f  his  part m*ano*  i.iubtiirtpjofitswttjfttv 


eurfclutj  Orfirto,  «D  ct 


«».  iwiofr moiit>'c»  ait  atttdovao. 
nrntuctfitbtrtmtlit  thoualjt  sooOt!i(rcfo;tfo:  ouoi 
tang ,« Imiuil  an6  Onidtr ctnfttuatoiit .to  rrtwuf  the 
80UM8  »f  »l  inDiffftetu  inintwo.m  tftac  rprtuilpsnits 

rtw&rttw  fb.Ms  inortiastfte  46utmun«  emu 
into  DatWv  Will}  fmt)  pooit  4n6  b,iru  il  mm  <i  nf  mo 
m>*  at  ihc  totscrv  li^uli  to:  ttlil 
l«n.tl)Jt  untnnir  looiiimli  vtaOt 


)  ,iDn 


OftUltlUf 


P«w 


irbtfiiaBum'uifDto' 


PROCLAMATION  OF  VIRGINIA  LOTTERY,  issued  Feb.  22,  1615,  to  raise  funds 
for  the  Company's  use.  From  a  facsimile  of  the  original,  belonging  to  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London.  The  two  sides  of  the  Seal  of  Virginia 
are  shown  in  the  squares. 

fitly  called  the  government  "very  bloody  and  severe  ...  in 
no  wise  agreeable  to  a  free  people  or  to  the  British  constitution." 
Dale,  however,  was  conscientious  and  efficient,  and  full  of  en 
thusiasm  for  Virginia.  "  Take  the  best  four  kingdoms  of 
Europe,"  he  wrote  home,  "  and  put  them  all  together,  and  they 
may  no  way  compare  with  this  country  for  commodity  and 
goodness  of  soil."  Moreover,  he  kept  order  and  protected  the 
colony  from  the  Indians,  and  in  1614  he  made  81  three-acre 
allotments  of  land  to  private  holders  —  a  small  garden  to  each 
fiee  settler.  At  his  departure,  in  1616,  the  colonists  numbered 
351.  Of  these,  65  were  women  or  children,  and  some  200 
were  "  servants." 


§  36]     EDWIN  SANDYS  AND  GEORGE   YEARDLEY      31 

34.  A  revolution  now  took  place  in  the  London  Company.    That 
body  had  split  into  factions.     The  part  so  far  in  control  was  con 
servative,  and  belonged  to  the 

"  court  party  "  in  English  poli 
tics  ; x  but  toward  the  close  of 
1618,  control  passed  to  a  liberal 
and  Puritan  faction,  led  by  the 
Earl  of  Southampton  and  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys.  These  patriots 
were  struggling  gallantly  in 
parliament  against  King  James' 
arbitrary  rule ;  and  they  at 
once  granted  a  large  measure 
of  self-government  to  the  Eng 
lishmen  across  the  Atlantic, 
over  whom  they  themselves 
ruled.  Sir  George  Yeardley  SlR  EDWIN  SANDYS. 

was  sent  out  as  governor,  and  a  new  era  began  in  Virginia. 

35.  With  Yeardley's  arrival,  in  April,  1619,  the  number  of 
colonists  was  raised  to  about  a  thousand.     They  were  still, 
mainly,  indentured  servants  (§  24),  and  were  distributed  among 
eleven  petty  "plantations,"2  —  mere  patches  on   the  wilder 
ness,  —  scattered  along  a  narrow  ribbon  of  territory,  nowhere 

more  than  six  miles  wide,  curv 
ing  up  the  James  for  a  hundred 
miles.     Industry  was  still  in  com 
mon  (except  for   the  sligh't  be 
ginning  of  private  tillage  under 
THE  DOTS  MARK  THE  RIBBON       Dale)  ;  and  martial  law  was  still 
OF  SETTLEMENT  IN  1624.  the  prevailing  government. 

36.  According    to    his    instructions    from    the    Company, 
Yeardley  at  once  introduced  three  great  reforms. 


1  Modern  World,  §  426  note. 

2  The  word  "plantation,"  as  used  here  to  indicate  a  distinct  settlement 
must  not  be  confused  with  the  word  as  used  in  §  27. 


32  EARLY   VIRGINIA  [§  37 

a.  He  established  private  ownership,  giving  liberal  grants  of 
land  to  all  free  immigrants. 

A  large  part  of  the  settlers  continued  for  some  time  to  be  "  servants  " 
of  the  Company,  and  these  were  employed  as  before  on  the  Company's 
land.  But  each  of  the  old  free  planters  now  received  100  acres ;  each  serv 
ant  was  given  the  same  amount  when  his  term  of  service  expired ;  and 
3ach  new  planter  thereafter  was  to  receive  50  acres  for  himself  and  as 
much  more  for  each  servant  he  brought  with  him.  Grants  of  many  hun 
dred  acres  were  made,  too,  to  men  who  rendered  valuable  service  to  the 
colony.  For  many  years,  all  grants  were  in  strips  fronting  on  rivers  tip 
which  ships  could  ascend. 

b.  Martial  laiv  was  set  aside.      Yeardley  proclaimed,  said  a 
body  of  settlers  later,  "  that  those  cruell  lawes  by  which  we  had 
soe  longe  been  governed  were  abrogated,  and  that  we  were  now 
to  be  governed  by  those  free  lawes  which  his  Majesties  subjects 
live  under  in  Englande."     That  is,  Yeardley  restored  the  private 
rights  to  which  the  settlers  were  entitled  both  by  the  Common 
Law  and  by  the  Company's  charter. 

c.  TJie  settlers  received  a  share  in  the  government.     A  Repre 
sentative  Assembly  was  summoned,  "  freely  to  be  elected  by 
the  inhabitants,  ...  to  make  and  ordaine  whatsoever  lawes 
and  orders  should  by  them  be  thought  good  and  profitable." 
This  political  privilege  was  a  new  thing. 

37.  The  First  Representative  Assembly1  in  America  met  at 
Jamestown,  August  9,2 1619.  It  was  not  purely  representative. 
Each  of  the  eleven  plantations  sent  two  delegates ;  but  in  the 
same  "  House  "  with  these  elected  "  Burgesses  "  sat  the  governor 
and  his  Council  (seven  or  eight  in  number),  appointed  from 
England. 

We  have  no  account  of  the  elections.  No  doubt  they  were  extremely 
informal.  Of  the  thousand  people  in  the  colony,  seven  hundred  must 
have  been  "servants"  without  a  vote;  and,  of  the  three  hundred  free 
persons,  a  fraction  were  women  and  children.  Probably  there  were  not 
more  than  two  hundred  voters.  They  were  distributed  among  eleven 

!The  Records  are  given  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  25. 

2  The  Old  Style  date,  July  30,  is  often  given.  A  discussion  of  Old  and  New 
Style  is  given  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  20,  note. 


§38]  FIRST   REPRESENTATIVE   ASSEMBLY  33 

plantations.     In  some  of  these,  the  only  voters  must  have  been  the  fore 
man  and  employees  of  a  rich  proprietor. 

The  Assembly  opened  with  prayer,  and  slipped  with  amaz 
ing  ease  into  the  forms  of  an  English  parliament.  It  "  verified 
credentials "  of  the  delegates  ;  it  gave  all  bills  "  three  read 
ings  "  ;  and,  in  two  cases,  it  acted  as  a  court  of  justice,  trying 
ordinary  criminals.  Laws  which  to-day  would  be  stigmatized 
as  "  Blue  Laws  "  were  passed  against  drunkenness,  gambling, 
idleness,  absence  from  church,  "  excess  in  apparel,"  and  other 
misdemeanors.  For  that  age,  the  penalties  were  light.  The 
Church  of  England  was  made  the  established  church ;  and  aid 
was  asked  from  the  Company  toward  setting  up  a  college. 
With  all  this  business,  the  Assembly  sat  only  six  days. 

This  beginning  of  representative  government  in  the  wilderness  has  a 
simple  grandeur  and  a  striking  significance.  Virginia  had  been  trans 
formed  from  a  "plantation  colony,"  ruled  by  a  despotic  overseer,  into  a 
self-governing  political  community.  The  pioneers  manifested  an  instinct 
and  fitness  for  representative  government,  a  zest  for  it,  and  a  deep  sense 
of  its  value.  It  came  as  a  gift;  but,  once  given,  it  could  not  be  withdrawn. 

Jury  trial  and  representative  government  were  both  established  upon 
a  lasting  foundation  in  America  in  1619,  while  Virginia  was  the  only 
English  colony.  These  two  bulwarks  of  freedom  were  not  then  known 
in  any  large  country  except  in  England  ;  and  they  were  not  to  take 
root  in  the  colonies  of  any  other  country  until  more  than  two  hundred 
years  later.  Their  establishment  in  Virginia  made  them  inevitable  in  all 
other  English  colonies. 

38.  Two  charters  to  the  settlers  established  still  more  firmly 
the  grant  of  self-government.  Yeardley  put  before  the  As 
sembly  a  long  document  from  the  Company.  The  Assembly 
called  it  a  "  Great  Charter,"  and  examined  it  carefully,  "  be 
cause  [it]  is  to  binde  us  and  our  heyers  forever."  This  "  charter 
of  1618  "  has  been  lost,  but  the  Assembly's  Records  show  that 
it  guaranteed  a  representative  Assembly.  Two  years  later, 
Francis  Wyatt  became  governor,  and  the  Company  sent  over 
by  him  a  brief  confirmation  of  the  right  of  representative 
government  in  a  second  "  charter,"  known  as  the  Ordinance  of 
1621  (Source  Book). 


34  EARLY  VIRGINIA  [§  39 

These  "  charters "  of  1618  and  1621  were  wholly  different 
from  royal  grants  to  proprietors  in  England.  They  were  the 
first  of  many  charters  and  "  concessions  "  issued  by  the  propri 
etors  of  various  colonies  to  settlers  in  America,  in  order  to  set 
up  ideals  of  government  or  to  attract  settlers. 

39.  The  new  management  of  the  Company  bestirred  itself  to 
build  up  the  colony  on  the  material  side  also.       To  supply  the 
labor    so   much   needed,    Sandys    (the    "  Treasurer " ;    §    32) 
sought  throughout  England  for  skilled  artisans  and  husband 
men,  and  shipped  to  Virginia  many  hundred  "  servants."     Sev 
eral  cargoes  of  young  women,  too,  were  induced  to  go  out  for 
wives  to  the  settlers  ;  and  supplies  of  all  kinds  were  poured  into 
the  colony  with  a  lavish  hand. 

This  generous  paternalism  tvas  often  unwise.  Effort  and  money 
were  wasted  in  trying  to  produce  glass,  silk,  and  wine ; *  while 
the  main  industry  that  was  to  prove  successful,  tobacco  raising, 
had  to  win  its  way  against  the  Company's  frowns.  Moreover, 
pestilence  and  hardship  continued  to  kill  off  a  terrible  propor 
tion  of  the  people.  In  the  first  three  years  after  Yeardley's 
arrival,  more  than  three  thousand  new  settlers  landed ;  but  in 
March,  1622,  of  the  population  old  and  new,  only  some  twelve 
hundred  survived,  and  that  spring  an  Indian  massacre  swept 
away  a  third  of  that  little  band. 

40.  In  spite  of  all  this,  Virginia  became  prosperous  under  the 
Company's  rule.     Two  years  after  the  massacre,  when  the  Com 
pany  was  overthrown  (§  43),  the  population  had  risen  again  to 
twelve  hundred,  and  the  number  of  settlements  had  become 
nineteen.  '  The    Indians   had   been    crushed.     Fortunes   were 
being  made  in  tobacco,  and  the  homes  of  the  colonists  were 
taking  on  an  air  of  comfort.     The  period  of  experiment  was  past, 
and  the  era  of  rapid  growth  had  just  been  reached.     During  the 
following  ten  years  (1624-1634)  the  population  grew  fourfold, 
to  more  than  5000  people,  organized  in  eight  comities. 

1  Englishmen  valued  colonies,  on  the  economic  side,  mainly  on  the  ground 
that  they  might  furnish  England  with  those  -products  which  she  had  been  com 
pelled  to  buy  from  foreigners. 


§  42]     UNDER   THE   LIBERAL  LONDON  COMPANY      35 


41.  Tobacco  for  export  was  first  grown  in  1614,  on  the  planta 
tion  of  John  Rolfe  who  had  married  the  Indian  girl  Poca- 
hontas.  The  Company  always  discouraged  its  cultivation  —  on 
moral l  as  well  as  business  grounds  —  and  even  later  King 


A   COVNTERBLASTE 

TO    TOBACCO. 


3  Hat  the  manifold  abufes  of  this  vile  cu- 
llome  of  Tobacco  caking,  may  the  better  be 
efpied,it  is  fit,  that  firit  you  enter  into  con- 
fidcration  both  of  the  firit  original!  thereof, 
andlikewife  ofthe-reafons  of  the  firll  entry 
thereof  into  this  Countrcy.  Forcertamely 
as  fuch  cuftomes,  that  haue  their  firilinili- 
tution  either  from  a  godly,  ncceflary,or  ho 
nourable  ground ,  and  are  firft  brought^n, 

-—-—«__  by  themeanes  of  lome  worthy,  vcnuous, 

and  great  Perfonage,arccuer,andmoftiuftly,holdcnih  great  and  reucrcnt 
cftimation  and  account,  by  all  wife,  vertuous,  and  temperate (pirits :  So 
ftiould  it  by  the  contrary ,  iuftly  bringagreat  difgraceinto  that  fort'  of cu- 


BEGINNING  OF  KING  JAMES'  TRACT  AGAINST  TOBACCO.    Facsimile  from  the 
Complete  Works  of  James  I,  published  in  London  in  1616. 

Charles  warned  the  Virginians  not  to  "  build  on  smoke."  To 
bacco,  however,  found  a  steady  sale  in  Europe  at  high  prices ; 
and  before  1624  Virginians  knew  they  had  found  a  paying  in 
dustry.  Thereafter  the  colony  needed  no  coddling. 

42.     Meanwhile  King  James   became  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
liberal  management  of  the  Company.     Sandys  was  particularly 

1  Smoking  was  long  looked  upon,  much  as  drunkenness  is  now.    King  James 
wrote  a  tract  against  the  practice. 


36  EARLY  VIRGINIA  [§  42 

obnoxious.  He  was  prominent  in  parliament  in  opposing  the 
King's  arbitrary  policy,  and  was  reported  to  be  "  the  king's 
greatest  enemye."  More  than  once  he  had  been  committed  to 
custody  by  royal  order.  An  envious  business  associate  testi 
fied  that "  there  was  not  any  man  in  the  world  that  carried  a 
more  malitious  hearte  to  the  government  of  a  Monarchic  than 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys  did,"  and  that  Sandys  had  said  repeatedly 
that  he  "aymed  .  .  .to  make  a  free  popular  state  there  [in 
Virginia]  in  which  the  people  should  have  noe  government 
putt  upon  them  but  by  their  owne  consents." 

When  Sandys'  term  expired,  in  1620,  the  King  sent  to  the 
"  General  Court "  of  the  Company  the  names  of  four  men  from 
whom  he  ordered  them  to  elect  a  new  Treasurer.  The  Company 
(some  hundreds  of  the  best  gentlemen  of  England  present)  re 
monstrated  firmly  against  this  interference  with  the  freedom 
of  election  guaranteed  by  their  charter  ;  and  James  yielded,  ex 
claiming  petulantly,  "  Choose  the  Devil,  an  ye  will ;  only  not 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys  ! "  Sandys  then  withdrew  his  name ;  and 
the  Company  sent  a  committee  to  his  friend,  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  —  who  was  little  more  to  the  royal  taste  —  to 
inquire  whether  he  would  accept  the  office.  "  I  know  the  King 
will  be  angry,"  said  the  Earl  to  his  friends,  "  but,  so  this  pious 
and  ., .  .  glorious  work  be  encouraged,  let  the  Company  do 
with  me  as  they  think  good."  Then,  "  surceasing  the  ballot," 
the  meeting  elected  him  "  with  much  joy  and  applause,  by  erec 
tion  of  hands."  l  Sandys  was  chosen  Deputy  Treasurer  and  re 
mained  the  real  manager. 

When  Southampton's  second  term  expired  (1622),  James 
again  sent  to  the  Court  of  Election  five  names.  It  would  be 
pleasing  to  him,  he  said,  if  the  Company  would  choose  a  new 
Treasurer  from  the  list ;  but  this  time  he  carefully  disclaimed 

1  Southampton  was  the  liberal  leader  in  the  House  of  Lords.  He  had  been 
a  friend  and  patron  of  Shakspere.  These  spicy  anecdotes  of  the  election  come 
from  the  private  papers  of  the  Ferrars  brothers,  who  were  high  officials  in  the 
Company.  The  official  records  are  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  20.  There  the 
language  is  more  courtly,  but  the  spirit  is  equally  definite. 


§  43]        THE  KING  OVERTHROWS  THE  COMPANY        37 

any  wish  to  infringe  their  "  liberty  of  free  election."  The 
Company  reflected  Southampton  by  117  ballots,  to  a  total  of  20 
for  the  King's  nominees.  Then  they  sent  a  committee  to  thank 
James  "  with  great  reverence  "  for  his  "  gracious  remembrance  " 
and  for  his  "  regard  for  their  liberty  of  election  ! "  It  is  reported 
that  the  King  "flung  away  in  a  furious  passion."  Small 
wonder  that  he  listened  to  the  sly  slur  of  the  Spanish  ambassador 
who  called  the  London  Company's  General  Court  "  the  seminary 
for  a  seditious  parliament." 

43.  Since  James  could  not  secure  control  of  the  Company,  he 
decided  to  overthrow  it.  A  revival  of  the  old  factions  within 
it,  and  the  Indian  massacre  of  1622  in  Virginia,  furnished  a 
pretext.  James  sent  commissioners  to  the  colony,  to  gather 
further  information  unfavorable  to  the  Company's  rule ;  but 
the  Virginians  supported  the  Company  ardently  and  made  peti 
tion  after  petition  to  the  King  in  its  favor.  The  Company 
made  a  strong  defense.  The  charter  could  be  revoked  only  by 
a  legal  judgment.  But  just  at  this  time  the  English  courts 
were  basely  subservient  to  the  monarch,1  and,  in  1624,  the  King's 
lawyers  secured  judgment  that  the  charter  was  void.  Thus 
ended  the  London  Company,  —  "  the  greatest  and  noblest  asso 
ciation  ever  organized  by  the  English  people." 

EXERCISE.  —  Note  a  passage  in  this  chapter  that  contains  evidence  that 
voting  by  ballot  was  usual  with  the  London  Company.  (Further  proof 
may  be  found  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  23.)  Note  the  two  distinct  periods 
in  the  history  of  the  Company,  and  the  character  of  its  rule  in  Virginia 
in  each  period.  Compare  the  meanings  of  "  Virginia  "  on  maps  on  pages 
24  and  29.  Suggestions  for  library  work  will  be  found  at  the  close  of 
chapter  v. 

1  Sir  Edward  Coke,  the  great  Chief  Justice,  had  been  dismissed  from  office 
by  James  for  refusing  to  degrade  his  position  by  consulting  the  King's  will  in 
his  decisions.  Such  interference  with  the  courts  was  a  new  thing  in  England, 
and  was  never  to  recur  after  the  Stuart  reigns. 


CHAPTER  V 

VIRGINIA   SAVES   HER   ASSEMBLY 
1624-1660 

It  is  to  the  self-government  of  England,  and  to  no  lesser  cause,  that  we 
are  to  look  for  the  secret  of  that  boundless  vitality  which  fias  given  to  men 
of  English  speech  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  as  an  inheritance. 

—  JOHN  FISKE. 

44.  Virginia  had  become  a  royal  province.  To  the  people 
this  meant  three  things. 

a.  Land  titles  from  the  Company  to  settlers  held  good.     But 
all  the  territory  still  owned  by  the  Company  at  its  fall  became  crown 
land  again.      Thereafter,  royal  governors  made  grants  from  it 
to  settlers  much  as  the  Company  had  done. 

Virginia  afterwards  frequently  claimed  its  "ancient  bounds"  as  de 
scribed  in  the  charter  of  1G09  (§  32).  That  grant,  however,  was  not  made 
to  the  colony.  The  King  was  undoubtedly  within  his  rights  when  he  soon 
gave  part  of  the  old  grant  to  Lord  Baltimore  for  the  colony  of  Maryland. 

b.  The  colony  now  had  to  support  itself.     In  fifteen  years  the 
London  Company  had  spent  five  million  dollars  on  it  —  without 
return  to   the   stockholders ;  and   most  settlers   believed   the 
colony  must  sink  unless  such  fostering  continued.     In  the  next 
four  years  the  colonists  sent  four  petitions  to  the  King  for  aid. 
One  of  them  runs,  in  part :  — 

"The  ground  work  of  all  is  that  there  must  bee  a  sufficient  publique 
stock  to  goe  through  with  soe  greate  a  worke  ;  which  we  can  not  com 
pute  to  bee  lesse  than  £20,000  a  yeare.  .  .  .  For  by  it  must  be  mainetayned 
the  Governor  and  his  Counsell  and  other  officers  here,  the  forest  wonne 
and  stocked  with  cattle,  fortifications  raysed,  an  army  mainetayned,  dis 
coveries  mayde  by  Sea  and  land,  and  all  other  things  requisite  in  soe 
mainefold  a  business." 

38 


§  45]          STRUGGLE   TO   SAVE   THE  ASSEMBLY  39 

But  the  King  was  quarreling  with  parliament  about  money 
enough  to  run  the  government  at  home,  and  he  paid  no  attention 
to  such  prayers.  This  was  fortunate.  The  colony  found  that 
it  could  walk  alone. 

c.  Political  control  over  the  colonists  was  now  in  the  King's 
hands.  And,  as  the  colonists  feared  that  the  King  would  help 
too  little,  so,  with  more  reason,  they  feared  that  he  would  govern 
too  much. 

45.  The  Virginians  were  determined  to  save  their  Represent 
ative  Assembly.  As  soon  as  it  became  plain  that  the  Company 
was  to  be  overthrown,  in  the  spring  of  1624,  a  body  of  leading 
settlers  sent  to  the  King  an  address  in  which  they 

"  humbly  entreat  .  .  .  that  the  Governors  [to  be  appointed  by  the  king] 
may  not  have  absolute  authority,  .  .  .  [and]  above  all  ...  that  we  may 
retayne  the  Libertie  of  our  General  Assemblie,  than  which  nothing  can 
more  conduce  to  our  satisfaction  or  the  public  utilitie." 

At  the  same  time  the  Assembly  itself  solemnly  put  on 
record  its  claim  to  control  taxation,  in  a  memorable  en 
actment  :  — 

"  That  the  Governor  shall  lay  no  taxes  or  ympositions  upon  the  colony, 
its  lands  or  goods,  other  way  than  by  the  authority  of  the  General  Assem 
bly,  to  be  levied  and  ymployed  as  the  said  Assembly  shall  appoynt.'1-  This 
was  the  first  assertion  on  this  continent  of  the  English  principle,  "  No 
taxation  without  representation." 

That  same  summer,  however,  King  James  began  his  control 
by  reappoiiiting  the  old  governor  and  Council  in  Virginia  and 
giving  them  full  authority  to  rule  the  colony.  The  instructions 
to  these  officers  made  no  mention  of  an  Assembly.  Nor  was  an 
Assembly  mentioned  by  the  new  King,  Charles  I,  the  next  year, 
when  he  appointed  a  new  governor  in  Virginia.  Indeed  no 
Assembly  met  for  five  years  (1624-1628). 

Still  the  colonists  kept  asking  for  one ;  and  in  1625  they  sent 
Yeardley  to  England  to  present  their  desires.  Yeardley  told 
the  royal  council  that  only  the  grant  of  an  Assembly  could 
allay  the  universal  distrust  in  Virginia,  where  "  the  people, 


40 


VIRGINIA,   1624-1660 


(§45 


.  .  .  justly  fearing  to  fall  into  former  miseries,  resolve  rather 

to  seek  the  farthest  parts  of  the  World." 

Neither  this  threat  nor  other  petitions  met  with  any  direct 

answer.     But,  in  1628,  Charles  did  order  the  governor  to  call 

an  Assembly,  because  he  hoped, 
vainly,  to  persuade  it  to  grant 
him  a  monopoly  of  the  profitable 
tobacco  trade.  Soon  after,  Charles 
appointed  Sir  John  Harvey  gov 
ernor.  Harvey  belonged  to  the 
court  faction  in  England,  and  had 
been  one  of  the  royal  commis 
sioners  sent  to  Virginia  in  1623. 
Apparently  he  had  learned  there 
that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  try  to 
rule  the  colony  without  an  As 
sembly.  His  commission  from 
Charles  made  no  mention  of  one ; 
but,  in  1629,  before  leaving  Eng 
land,  he  drew  up  for  the  King's 

consideration  a  list  of  seven  "  Propositions  touching  Virginia." 

One  of  these  propositions  asked  for  a  representative  Assembly  as 

part  of  the  government. 

The  King  seems  to  have  been  influenced  by  this  request  from 

the  courtier-governor  more  than  by  the  petitions  of  the  colony. 

He  was  just  entering  upon  his  eleven-year  period   of   "No 

Parliament"  in  England,1  but,  in  his  answer  to  Harvey,  he 

approved  an  Assembly  for  Virginia* 

With  this  sanction,  the  Assembly  continued  regularly ;  and 

formal  directions  to  call  Assemblies  became  a  part  of  each  future 

governor's  instructions. 

The  change  from  a  proprietary  colony  to  a  royal  colony,  then,  did  not 
make  political  liberty  less.  King  James  did  plan  a  despotic  government ; 
but  he  died  in  a  few  months  after  the  change,  before  he  had  time  to  com 
plete  the  "  new  constitution  "  that  he  was  drawing  up  for  Virginia.  And 


CHARLES  I.    From  a  portrait  by 
Van  Dyck. 


i  Modern  World,  §  435. 


2  Source  Book,  No.  32. 


§  48]  DEMOCRATIC  SELF-GOVERNMENT  41 

Charles  I  found  himself  at  once  so  involved  in  quarrels  at  home  and  abroad 
that  he  had  little  time  to  give  to  a  distant  colony.  Thus  Virginia  was  left 
to  develop  with  less  interference  than  it  would  have  had  from  the  most 
liberal  proprietary  company. 

The  London  Company  had  planted  constitutional  liberty  in  America  ; 
the  settlers  clung  to  it  devotedly;  and  the  careless  royal  government 
found  it  easier  to  use  the  institution  than  to  uproot  it. 

46.  The  Virginians  had  dreaded  Harvey's  coming.      Despite 
his  "  proposition "  for  an  Assembly,  he  was  known  as  a  sup 
porter  of  arbitrary  rule.     And  so,  soon  after  his  arrival,  the 
Assembly  of  1632  reenacted,  word  for  word,  the  great  law  of  1624 
regarding  representation  and  taxation. 

Harvey  clashed  continually  with  the  settlers,  and  complained 
bitterly  to  the  authorities  in  England  about  the  "  self-willed 
government  "  in  Virginia.  Finally,  he  tried  to  arrest  some  of 
his  Council  for  "  treason."  Instead,  the  Council  and  Assembly 
"  thrust  him  out  of  his  government,"  sent  him  prisoner  to  Eng 
land,  and  chose  a  new  governor  in  his  place.  This  was  "  the 
mutiny  of  1635."  Two  years  later,  the  King  restored  Harvey 
for  a  time ;  but  replaced  him,  in  1639,  by  the  liberal  Wyatt. 

47.  In  1641  Sir  William  Berkeley  was  sent  over  as  governor. 
He    had   been   an   ardent   royalist  in   England;   so  his   first 
Assembly  enacted  verbatim,  for  the  third  time,  the  law  of  1624 
regarding  taxation.     He  ruled,  however,  with  much  moderation, 
keeping  in  touch  with  the  Assembly  and  showing  no  promise 
of  the  tyranny  which  was  to  mark  his  second  governorship 
after  the  Restoration  (§§  156  ff.). 

48.  In  1649,  after  the  English  Civil  War,  the  home  country 
for  a  time  became  a  republican  "  Commonwealth."     Parliament 
sent  commissioners  to  America  to  secure  the  obedience  of  the 
colonies.      Berkeley   wished   to   resist  these  officers,  but  the 
Assembly  quietly  set  him  aside  and  made  terms  (Source  Book, 
No.  34).     The  government  was  reorganized  so-  as  to  put  more 
power   into   the  hands  of  the  Burgesses,  because  parliament 
could  trust  them  better  than  it  could  the  more  aristocratic  ele 
ments.     Each  year  a  House  of  Burgesses  was  to  be  chosen  as 


42  VIRGINIA,    1624-1660  [§  49 

formerly,  but  this  body  was  now  to  elect  the  governor  and  Coun 
cil.  During  the  next  nine  years  (1652-1660),  Virginia  was  al 
most  an  independent  and  democratic  state. 

49.  This  democratic  self-government  was  vigorously  main 
tained.  On  one  occasion  (1657),  a  dispute  arose  between  the 
Burgesses  and  the  governor.  Governor  Matthews  and  the 
Council  then  declared  the  Assembly  dissolved  (as  a  royal  gov 
ernor  would  have  done).  The  Burgesses  held  that  the  gov 
ernor,  having  been  made  by  them,  could  not  unmake  them,  and 
that  "  we  are  not  dissoluable  by  any  power  yet  extant  in  Vir 
ginia  but  our  owne."  Matthews  threatened  to  refer  the  matter 
to  England.  The  Burgesses  then  deposed  him,  and  proceeded 
to  reelect  him  upon  condition  that  he  acknowledge  their  su 
preme  authority. 

In  March,  1660,  Governor  Matthews  died.  Charles  II  had 
just  returned  to  the  throne  in  England.  The  Assembly  wished 
to  conciliate  Charles,  and  so  it  chose  Berkeley  governor  again. 
But  it  also  made  an  attempt  to  save  Commonwealth  liberties 
by  enacting  that  Berkeley 

"governe  according  to  the  ancient  lawes  of  England  and  the  established 
lawes  of  this  country,  and  .  .  .  that  once  in  two  years  at  least  he  call  a 
Grand  Assembly,  and  that  he  do  not  dissolve  this  Assembly  without 
the  consente  of  the  major  part  of  the  House." 

The  failure  of  this  attempt  to  restrict  the  new  governor  be 
longs  to  a  later  chapter. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  This  text-book  can  be  used,  like  others  of 
its  kind,  with  the  usual  amount  of  supplementary  reading  from  standard 
"secondary"  works.  The  author  has  planned,  however,  for  Part  I  to 
he  accompanied  instead  by  a  rather  full  study  of  illustrative  " sources" 
which  he  has  collected  for  the  purpose  in  a  Source  Book.  Nos.  1-35 
may  be  used  to  advantage  with  this  chapter.  Frequent  suggestions  for 
the  use  of  the  more  important  documents  in  that  volume  are  given  in  this 
book.  The  teacher  will  find  many  other  ways  to  relate  the  sources  to 
the  narrative.  It  is  well  to  ask  a  student  to  find  in  a  given  document 
some  important  fact  which  is  not  mentioned  in  this  text-book  but  which 
might  well  be  mentioned.  In  particular,  it  is  a  good  exercise  to  set  a 


§  491     VIRGINIA   DURING  THE   COMMONWEALTH       43 

student  to  find  in  a  given  "source"  the  authority  for  some  statement  in 
the  text,  or  to  find  a  possible  basis  for  deciding  between  two  conflicting 
authorities. 

For  the  class  which  does  not  use  the  Source  Book,  the  following  bibli 
ography  is  suggested  in  connection  with  early  Virginia. 

Eggleston,  Beginners  of  a  Nation,  1-97  (charming  and  scholarly)  ; 
Fiske,  Old  Virginia  and  her  Neighbors,  I,  1-224  ;  Channing,  History  of 
the  United  States,  1, 115-241;  Becker,  Beginnings  of  the  American  People, 
37-70. 

In  fiction,  mention  may  be  made,  for  this  period,  of  Mary  Johnston's 
To  Have  and  to  Hold  and  Eggleston's  Pocahontas  and  Powhatan, 
Kingsley's  Westward  Ho  pictures  the  rivalry  between  England  and  Spain 
in  the  Old  World  and  the  New. 

SUGGESTIONS  AND  QUESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  REVIEW 

1.  Quote  from  memory  three  or  four  memorable  sentences  or  phrases 
(such  as  the  quotation  at  the  head  of  chapter  iii  and  that  in  §  33). 

2.  Make  a  syllabus  for  Virginia  to  1660. 

3.  Let  each  student  present  a  list  of  twelve  or  fifteen  questions  for  the 
others  to  answer,  —  the  instructor  criticizing  when  necessary. 

4.  Sample  Questions.  —  (1)  Who  chose  the   chief  executive  in  Vir 
ginia  in  1607  ?    In  1611?    In  1620?     In  1625  ?     In  1655  ?     (2)  Distin 
guish  between  the  Virginia  General  Assembly  and  the  Virginia  Company's 
Great  and  General  Court,  as  to  place,  composition,  and  powers.     (3)  Did 
any  of  the  royal  charters  to  the  Virginia  Company  suggest  self-govern 
ment  for  the  settlers  ?    Justify  the  answer.     (4)  When  and  why  did  the 
Ordinance  of  1621  cease  to  be  valid  ?     (5)  Distinguish  two  stages  in  the 
attack  of  King  James  upon  the  liberal  London  Company.     (6)  Who  had 
authority  to  make  laws  for  the  Virginians  in  1608  ?     In  1610  ?    In  1616  ? 
In  1621  ?    In  1631  ?     (7)  What  facts  about  the  colony  in  this  period, 
not  referred  to  in  the  text  above,  can  you  find  in  the  Source  Book  ?     Do 
you  learn  anything  from  the  story  of   Gilbert  (§  20)  about  European 
familiarity  with  the  North  Atlantic  coast  of  America  ? 

(Students  should  be  trained  to  answer  briefly  but  inclusively.  For 
the  fifth  question,  some  such  answer  as  the  following  should  be  required  : 
First  he  tried  in  vain  to  secure  control  of  the  Company  by  dominating  its 
elections  in  1620  and  1622  ;  then,  he  secured  its  overthrow  through  a 
decree  of  his  subservient  courts  against  the  validity  of  the  Company's 
charter,  in  1624.) 


CHAPTER   VI 


MARYLAND1:  A  PROPRIETARY  PROVINCE 

Among  the  people  of  Lord  Baltimore's  colony,  as  among  English- 
speaking  people  in  general,  one  might  observe  a  fierce  spirit  of  political 
liberty  coupled  with  an  ingrained  respect  for  law.  —  FISKE,  Old  Virginia. 

50.  For  Maryland,  the  plan  of  colonization  was  much  like  that 
of  Raleigh's  day.  George  Calvert,  a  high-minded  gentleman, 

had  been  interested  for 
many  years  in  the  expan 
sion  of  England.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  London 
Company  and  of  the  New 
England  Council  (§  58) ; 
and  finally  he  took  upon 
his  own  shoulders  a  sepa 
rate  attempt  to  build  a 
colony. 

In  1623,  Calvert  secured 
a  charter  from  King 
James  for  a  vast  tract  in 
Newfoundland,  with  au 
thority  to  rule  settlers 
there;  and  to  this  Prov 
ince  of  Avalon  he  sent  out 
GEORGE  CALVERT,  FIRST  LORD  BALTI-  «'i_/a«  *  i  •  ^ 

MORE.    After  a  portrait  by  Mytens,  court     Several  bodies  of  colonists. 

painter  to  James  I,  in  the  gallery  of  the     Just    after    receiving    the 

Earl  of  Verulam,  Glastonhury.  grant,  Calvert   became   a 

Catholic,  though  that   religion  was  then   persecuted   sternly 
in  England.     Until  this  time  his  life  had  been  spent  mainly 

l  From  1607  to  1620  Virginia  was  the  only  English  colony  on  the  continent. 
Then  came  the  beginnings  of  New  England ;  but  for  some  time  more  the  two 

44 


§52]   GROWTH  OF  REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT   45 

in  the  service  of  the  government ;  but  now  he  had  to  with 
draw  from  office.  To  reward  his  past  services,  the  King 
made  him  Baron  of  Baltimore,  and  the  new  peer  then  spent 
some  years  in  his  colony  —  only  to  learn  by  bitter  experience 
that  he  had  been  misled  cruelly  as  to  its  climate  and  wealth.1 

Broken  in  health  and  fortune,  Baltimore  at  last  abandoned 
that  harsh  location,  and  petitioned  King  Charles  for  a  more 
southerly  province.  Before  the  new  grant  was  completed,  he 
died;  but  in  1632  the  Charter  for  Maryland  was  issued  to 
his  son.  Two  years  later  this  second  Lord  Baltimore  sent 
two  hundred  settlers  to  the  colony. 

51.  The   charter   of  1632    sanctioned   representative   self-gov 
ernment.     It  put  the  head  of  the  Baltimore  family   in   the 
position,  practically,  of  a  constitutional  king  over  the  settlers : 
but  his  great  authority  was  limited  by  one  supreme  provision, 
not   found   in.   the  charter   to  E-aleigh.     In  raising  taxes  and 
making  laws,  the  proprietor  could  act  only  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  an  Assembly  of  the  freemen*  or  of  their  representatives. 

This  recognition  of  political  rights  for  the  settlers,  in  a  royal 
charter,  is  an  onward  step  in  the  history  of  liberty.  The 
creation  of  the  Virginia  Assembly,  and  the  devotion  of  the 
Virginians  to  it,  had  borne  fruit.  Between  1620  and  1630,  it 
became  a  settled  conviction  for  all  Englishmen,  at  last  even  for 
the  court  circle,  that  colonization  in  America  was  possible  only 
upon  the  basis  of  a  large  measure  of  self-government. 

52.  The  Assembly   soon   won  unexpected   power.       The  pro 
prietors  did  not  live  in  the   colony.     They  ruled  it  through 
governors,  whom  they  appointed  and  dismissed  at  will,  and  to 
whom,   they   delegated   such  authority   as   they   chose.     The 
governor  was  assisted  by  a  small  Council,  also  appointed  by 
the  proprietor.     This  proprietary  machinery  was  intended  to 

groups  of  colonies,  north  and  south,  were  separated  by  vast  stretches  of  wil 
derness.  Maryland  was  Virginia's  only  neighbor  in  the  first  half  century. 

1  See  Baltimore's  letter  to  King  Charles  in  Source  Book,  No.  41.  The 
name  Avalon,  with  such  terms  as  Bay  of  Flowers  and  Harbor  of  Heartsease, 
suggest  rosy  anticipations.  Cf.  §  2. 

2 In  Maryland  this  term  became  equivalent  to  "landowners." 


46  EARLY  MARYLAND  [§  53 

be  the  controlling  part  of  the  government.  But  within  twenty 
years  Maryland  grew  into  a  democratic  commonwealth,  with  the 
Assembly  for  the  center  of  authority.  The  most  important 
steps  in  this  transformation  were  taken  in  the  first  twenty  years. 

Lord  Baltimore  directed  the  first  governor  to  call  an  As 
sembly,  but  authorized  him  to  adjourn  and  dissolve  it  at  will 
and  to  veto  any  of  its  acts.  Baltimore  himself  reserved  a 
further  veto.  Moreover,  he  intended  to  keep  for  himself  the  sole 
right  to  initiate  legislation.  He  meant  to  draw  up  all  laws  in 
full,  and  to  submit  them  to  the  Assembly  —  which  might  then 
approve  them  or  reject  them,  but  might  not  amend  them.  The 
charter,  he  pointed  out,  declared  that  he  was  to  make  laws  "  with 
the  advice  and  consent "  of  the  freemen.  But  this  phrase  was 
the  same  that  English  kings  had  used  for  centuries  to  express  the 
division  of  power  between  themselves  and  parliament,  although, 
meantime,  parliament  had  come  to  be  the  real  law-making  power. 
Accordingly,  the  people  of  Maryland  insisted  upon  taking  the 
words  in  the  sense  which  history  had  given  them,  rather  than 
in  their  literal  meaning. 

The  first  Assembly  (1635)  passed  a  code  of  laws.  Baltimore 
vetoed  them  all,  on  the  ground  that  the  Assembly  had  exceeded 
its  authority.  To  the  next  Assembly  (1638)  Baltimore  sent  a 
carefully  drawn  body  of  laws.  After  full  debate,  these  were 
rejected  by  unanimous  vote'  of  all  the  representatives.  Then 
the  Assembly  passed  a  number  of  bills,  several  of  them  based 
upon  those  that  had  been  presented  by  Baltimore  ;  but  all  these 
fell  before  the  proprietor's  veto.  In  the  following  year, 
however,  Baltimore  wisely  gave  way,  and  soon  ceased  all  at 
tempts  to  introduce  bills. 

53.  Another  contest  concerned  the  make-up  of  the  Assembly. 
The  first  Assemblies  were  "  primary  "  gatherings,  to  which  all 
freemen  might  come  ;  but  to  the  spring  Assembly  of  1639  each 
"hundred"  (the  local  unit  in  early  Maryland)  chose  two 
delegates.  Notwithstanding  this,  from  one  of  the  hundreds 
there  appeared  two  other  men  claiming  a  right  to  sit  as 
members  because  they  "  had  not  consented "  to  the  election ! 


§  55]  GAINS  FOR  DEMOCRACY  47 

Stranger  still,  the  absurd  claim  was  allowed !  But  the  same 
Assembly  decreed  that  in  future  there  should  sit  only  (1)  dele 
gates  duly  chosen  and  (2)  gentlemen  summoned  by  the  gov 
ernor's  personal  writs.  In  1641  a  defeated  candidate  claimed 
a  right  to  sit  "  in  his  own  person,"  but  this  time  the  plea  was 
promptly  denied.  The  Assembly  had  become  representative. 

54.  The  next   step  was  for   the  Assembly  to  divide  into  two 
Houses.     At  first  the  Council  sat  as  part  of  the  Assembly  in 
one  body  with  the  freemen  or  their  delegates.     Moreover,  the 
governor  summoned  other  gentlemen,  as  many  as  lie  phased, 
by  personal  writs,  independent  of  election.     These  appointed 
members  sympathized  naturally  with  the  proprietor  and  the 
governor,  while  the  delegates  sometimes  stood  for  the  interests 
of  the  settlers.     As  early  as  1642  the  differences  between  the 
two  elements,  appointed  and  elected,  led  the  representatives 
to  propose  a  division  into  two  "  Houses."     The  attempt  failed 
because  of  the  governor's  veto ;  but  the  arrangement  became 
law  in  1650.1 

55.  Summary  of  Political  Progress.  —  Thus  the^zr.^  generation 
of   Marylanders    won   from   the  proprietor  important   rights 
guaranteed  to  Mm  by  the  charter.     The  form  of  the  Assembly 
was  no  longer  determined  by  him  from  time  to  time :  it  was 
fixed,  to  suit  democratic  desires,  by  a  law  of  the  Assembly ; 
and  the  Assembly  took  from  the  governor  all  his  law-making 
powers,  except  his  veto. 

The  Assembly  of  1642  attempted  also  to  secure  stated  meet 
ings,  independent  of  a  governor's  call,  and  to  do  away  with  the 
governor's  right  to  dissolve  them.  In  form,  these  radical  at 
tempts  failed ;  but  in  reality  the  Assembly  soon  learned  to  con 
trol  its  own  sittings,  except  in  extreme  crises,  through  its  power 
over  taxation.  It  granted  supplies  only  for  a  year  at  a  time 
(so  that  it  had  to  be  called  each  year),  and  it  deferred  this 
vote  of  supplies  until  it  was  ready  to  adjourn. 


1  The  first  colony  to  establish  a  two-House  legislature  was  Massachusetts 
in  1644  (§  102) ;  but  the  first  attempt  came  in  Maryland. 


48 


EARLY  MARYLAND 


(§56 


56.  Maryland  was  also  a  religious  experiment.  After  George 
Calvert's  conversion  to  Catholicism,  he  had  a  new  motive  for 
wishing  to  found  a  colony.  He  and  his  son  wished  to  establish 
a  refuge  for  their  persecuted  co-religionists.  The  charter, 
therefore,  omits  the  usual  reference  to  the  oath  of  supremacy 
—  which  good  Catholics  could  not  take  —  and  probably  there 


<,  ,^ 

..5, 


FACSIMILE  OF  INSTRUCTIONS  FROM  LORD  BALTIMORE  TO  HIS  BROTHER, 
LEO  CALVERT,  regarding  the  treatment  of  Protestants  in  Maryland. 

was  an  understanding  between  King  and  proprietor  that  Cath 
olics  would  not  be  molested.  But  Maryland  was  never  a 
Catholic  colony  in  the  sense  that  the  Catholics  could  have 
made  their  religion  the  state  religion,  or  that  they  could  have 
excluded  other  sects.  The  most  that  the  devout,  high-minded 
Baltimore  could  do  for  his  fellow  worshipers,  —  possibly  all 
that  he  wished  to  do,  —  was  to  secure  toleration  for  them  by 
compelling  them  to  tolerate  others.  From  the  first  there  were 


§  57]  TOLERATION  AND  PERSECUTION  49 

many  Trotestaiits  in  the  colony,  possibly  a  majority.  Balti 
more's  instructions  to  the  governor  of  the  first  expedition 
enjoined  him  to  permit  "  no  scandal  or  offense"  to  be  given  to 
any  of  the  Protestants. 

When  the  Puritan  Commonwealth  was  established  in  Eng 
land,  the  Puritans  in  Maryland  tried  to  win  control  in 
that  province.  Lord  Baltimore  then  persuaded  the  Assembly 
to  enact  the  Toleration  Act  of  1649.  This  great  law,  it  is  true, 
threatened  death  to  all  non-Christians  (including  Jews  and  any 
Unitarians  of  that  day) ;  but  it  provided  that  "  no  person  .  .  . 
professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  in  any  wise 
molested  or  discountenanced  for  his  or  her  religion." l 

57.  At  a  later  time  the  Catholics  were  persecuted  cruelly  in 
this  colony  that  they  had  founded.  After  the  English  Revolu 
tion  of  1688,  the  Catholic  Baltimore  family  was  deprived  of 
all  political  power ;  and,  for  a  generation,  Maryland  became  a 
royal  province.  In  1715  the  Lord  Baltimore  of  the  day, 
having  declared  himself  a  convert  to  Protestantism,  recovered 
his  authority.  Meantime  the  Episcopal  Church  had  been 
established  in  Maryland  and  ferocious  statutes,2  like  those  then 
in  force  in  England,  had  been  enacted  against  Catholics,  to 
blacken  the  law  books  through  the  rest  of  the  colonial  period. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  The  narrative  is  given  admirably  in  Chan- 
ning's  United  States,  I,  241-271,  or,  more  at  length,  in  Fiske's  Old 
Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,  I,  255-318,  II,  131-173.  The  Maryland 
Charter  and  comment  on  its  model,  the  Avalon  Charter  of  1623,  will  be 
found  in  the  Source  Book. 

1  See  Source  Book,  No.  45,  or  cf .  Fiske's  Old  Virginia,  I,  309-311. 

2  See  a  brief  statement  in  Fiske,  Old  Virginia,  II,  167. 


CHAPTER   VII 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF   NEW  ENGLAND 

After  all  that  can  be  said  for  material  and  intellectual  advantages,  it 
remains  true  that  moral  causes  determine  the  greatness  of  nations  /  and 
no  nation  ever  started  on  its  career  with  a  larger  proportion  of  strong 
characters  or  a  higher  level  of  moral  earnestness  than  the  English  col 
onies  in  America.  —  LECKY,  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  II,  2. 

58.  IN  1620,  roused  by  the  success  of  the  London  Company 
at  Jamestown,  some  members  of  the  Plymouth  branch  (§  25) 
of  the  old  Virginia  Company  reorganized  as  "  The  Council  resi 
dent  in  Plymouth  .  .  .  for  the  planting  of  New  England," 
and  a  royal  charter  gave  this  body  powers  similar  to  those  of 
the  London  Company,  with  a  grant  of  all  North  America  be 
tween  the  fortieth  parallel  and  the  forty-eighth.1 

This  "  New  England  Council "  sent  out  no  colonists.  Instead, 
it  sold  or  granted  tracts  of  land,  with  various  privileges,  to 
adventurers  who  undertook  to  found  settlements.  One  such 
charter  it  sold  to  agents  representing  the  struggling  Pilgrim 
colony,  which,  by  accident,  had  been  founded  within  the  New 
England  Council's  territory  (§  64).  Some  small  trading  sta 
tions,  also,  were  established  under  such  grants ;  and  in  1623 
there  came  a  more  ambitious  attempt.  Robert  Gorges,  son  of 
the  most  active  member  of  the  Plymouth  Council,  was  granted 
lands  near  Boston  harbor,  with  a  charter  empowering  him  to 

1  The  Company  is  styled  sometimes  The  Plymouth  Council,  sometimes  The 
Council  for  New  England,  or  The  New  England  Council.  Six  years  earlier, 
Captain  John  Smith,  then  in  the  employ  of  gentlemen  connected  with  the  old 
Plymouth  Company,  had  explored  and  mapped  these  northern  coasts,  and  had 
given  to  the  region  the  name  of  New  England.  The  royal  charter  of  1620 
officially  adopted  this  name  for  the  vast  district  previously  known  vaguely 
as  "  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia."  Maps,  pp.  51  and  25. 

50 


i  59)        BUSINESS  MOTIVES  AND  PURITANISM 


51 


rule  settlers  "according  to  such,  lawes  as  shall  be  hereafter 
established  by  public  authoritie  of  the  state  assembled  in 
Parliament  in  New  England"  (cf.  §  51).  Gorges  brought  to 
Massachusetts  Bay  an  excellent  company,  containing  several 


"gentlemen,"  two  clergymen,  and  selected  farmers  and  me 
chanics  ;  but  after  one  winter  the  colony  broke  up. 

The  New  England  Council  had  commissioned  Gorges  "General 
Governor"  of  all  settlements  in  their  vast  territory.  This  caused  the 
feeble  Pilgrim  colony  at  Plymouth  to  fear  his  coming  and  to  exult  at 
his  going.  The  gentle  Bradford,  governor  and  historian  of  Plymouth, 
wrote  with  unusually  grim  humor  that  Gorges  departed,  "haveing  scarce 
saluted  the  Cuntrie  of  his  Government,  not  finding  the  state  of  things 
hear  to  answer  his  qualitie." 

59.  The  forces  at  work  so  far  in  settling  New  England 
(except  for  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth)  were  mainly  commercial. 


52  THE  BEGINNINGS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND         [§  60 

But  success  in  New  England  was  to  come  from  a  new  force 
just  ready  to  take  up  the  work  of  colonization. 

This  force  was  Puritanism.  The  "  established "  church  in 
England  was  the  Episcopalian.  Within  that  church  the 
dominant  party  had  strong  "High-church"  leanings.  This 
High-church  party  was  ardently  supported  by  the  royal  "  head 
of  the  church,"  —  Elizabeth,  James,  Charles,  in  turn ;  but  it 
was  engaged  in  constant  struggle  with  a  large,  aggressive 
Puritan  element. 

Puritanism  was  much  more  than  a  religious  sect.  It  was  an 
ardent  aspiration  for  reform  in  many  lines.  In  politics,  it 
stood  for  an  advance  in  popular  rights  ;  in  conduct,  for  stricter 
and  higher  morality ;  in  theology,  for  the  stern  doctrines  of 
Calvinism,  which  appealed  powerfully  to  the  strongest  souls 
of  that  age  ;  in  church  matters,  for  an  extension  of  the  "  refor 
mation  "  that  had  cut  off  the  English  Church  from  Borne. 

60.  Two  groups  of  English  Puritans  stood  in  sharp  opposition 
to  one  another,  —  the  influential  "  Low-church  "  element  within 
the  church,  and  the  despised  Separatists  outside  of  it.  The  Low- 
churchmen  had  no  wish  to  separate  church  and  state.  They 
wished  one  national  church,  —  a  Low-church  church,  —  to 
which  everybody  within  England  should  conform.  They 
desired  also  to  make  the  church  a  more  far-reaching  moral 
power.  To  that  end  they  aimed  to  introduce  more  preaching 
into  the  service  and  to  simplify  ceremonies,  —  to  do  away  with 
the  surplice,  with  the  ring  in  the  marriage  service,  with  the 
sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  and  perhaps  with  the  prayer- 
book.  Most  of  them  did  not  care  to  change  radically  the 
government  of  the  English  church,  but  some  among  them 
spoke  with  scant  respect  of  bishops. 

The  Independents,  or  "  Puritans  of  the  Separation,"  be 
lieved  that  there  should  be  no  national  church,  but  that  reli 
gious  societies  should  be  wholly  separate  from  the  state.  They 
wished  each  local  religious  organization  a  little  democratic 
society  independent  in  government  even  of  other  churches. 


PILGRIMS  GOING  TO  "  MEETING."    From  the  imaginative  painting  by 
Bough  ton. 

CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   PLYMOUTH   PILGRIMS 

Next  to  the  fugitives  whom  Moses  led  out  of  Egypt,  the  little  shipload 
of  outcasts  who  landed  at  Plymouth  .  .  .  are  destined  to  influence  the 
future  of  mankind.  — JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 

If  Columbus  discovered  a  new  continent,  the  Pilgrims  discovered  the 
New  World.  —  GOLDWIN  SMITH. 

61.  The  Pilgrims  in  Holland.  —  To  all  other  sects  the  Separa 
tists  seemed  the  most  dangerous  of  radicals,  —  mere  anarchists 
in  religion.  They  had  been  persecuted  savagely  by  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  some  of  their  societies  had  fled  to  Holland.  In 
1608,  early  in  the  reign  of  James,  one  of  their  few  remaining 
churches  —  a  little  congregation  from  the  village  of  Scrooby 
—  managed  to  escape  to  that  same  land,  "  wher  they  heard  was 
freedome  of  Religion  for  all  men  "  :  — 

"  ...  a  countrie  wher  they  must  learn  a  new  language  and  get  their 
livings  they  knew  not  how  ...  not  acquainted  with  trads  or  traffique,  by 
which  that  countrie  doth  subsist,  but  .  .  .  used  to  a  plaine  countrie  life 
and  the  inocente  trade  of  husbandrey."  l 

1  William  Bradford,  in  his  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation.  The  quoted 
passages  in  the  following  paragraphs  upon  Plymouth  are  from  this  source 
when  no  other  authority  is  mentioned. 

53 


54  PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION  [§  62 

They  first  settled  in  Amsterdam,  but  had  no  sooner  begun  to 
feel  safe  in  some  measure,  through  toil  and  industry,  from  "  the 
grime  and  grisly  face  of  povertie  coming  upon  them  like  an 
armed  man/'  than  it  seemed  needful  to  move  again,  this  time 
to  Leyden ;  and 

"  being  now  hear  pitchet,  they  fell  to  such  trads  and  imployments  as  they 
best  could,  valewing  peace  and  their  spirituall  comforte  above  all  other 
riches  .  .  .  injoyinge  much  sweete  and  delightefull  societie  ...  in  the 
wayesofGod"  .  .  .  but  subject  to  such  "  greate  labor  and  hard  fare" 
that  "  many  that  desired  to  be  with  them  .  .  .  and  to  injoye  the  libertie 
of  the  gospell  .  .  .  chose  the  prisons  in  England  rather  than  this  libertie 
in  Holland." 

62.  After  some  twelve  years  in  Holland,  the  Pilgrims  decided 
to  remove  once  more,  to  the  wilds  of  North  America.  Bradford 
gives  three  motives  for  this  :  (1)  an  easier  livelihood,  especially 
for  their  children  ;  (2)  the  removal  of  their  children  from  what 
they  considered  the  loose  morals  of  easy-going  Dutch  society ; 
and  (3)  the  preservation  of  their  religious  principles. 

"  Old  age  beganne  to  steale  on  many  of  them  (and  their  greate  and 
continuall  labours  .  .  .  hastened  it  before  the  time).  And  many  of  their 
children  that  were  of  the  best  dispositions  and  gracious  inclinations,  have- 
ing  learnde  to  bear  the  yoake  in  their  youth,  and  willing  to  bear  parte  of 
their  parents  burdens,  were  often  times  so  oppressed  with  heavie  labours 
that  .  .  .  their  bodies  .  .  .  became  decreped  in  their  early  youth,  the 
vigour  of  nature  being  consumed  in  the  very  budd,  as  it  were. 

"  But  that  which  was  ...  of  all  sorrows  most  heavie  to  be  borne,  — 
many  of  their  children,  by  these  occasions  and  the  greate  licentiousnes  in 
that  countrie,  and  the  manifold  temptations  of  the  place,  were  drawn 
away  .  .  .  into  extravagante  and  dangerous  courses,  tending  to  disso- 
lutenes  and  the  danger  of  their  souls. ' ' 

Winslow  (another  Pilgrim  historian)  puts  emphasis  on  a 
fourth  reason,  —  a  patriotic  desire  to  establish  themselves  under 
the  English  flag,  —  one  of  their  chief  griefs  in  Holland  being 
that  their  children  intermarried  with  the  Dutch  and  were  drawn 
away  from  their  English  tongue  and  manners. 

Of  these  four  motives,  the  religious  one  was  beyond  doubt 
the  weightiest.  In  Holland,  there  was  no  growth  for  their 


§  63]  MOTIVES  55 

Society.  It  would  die  out,  as  the  older  members  passed  off  the 
scene  ;  and  with  it  would  die  their  principles.  But,  if  they  es 
tablished  themselves  in  a  New  World,  — 

"  a  greate  hope  and  inward  zeall  they  had  of  laying  some  good  founda 
tion  for  the  propagating  and  advancing  the  gospell  of  the  kingdome  of 
Christ  in  those  remote  parts  of  the  world;  yea,  though  they  should  be  but 
even  as  stepping-stones  unto  others  for  the  performing  of  so  greate  a  work." 

63.  From  the  London  Company  the  Pilgrims  secured  a  grant 
of  land  and  a  charter ;  and,  by  entering  into  partnership  with 
another  group  of  London  merchants,  they  secured  the  necessary 
money.1 

For  many  months,  says  Bradford,  this  opening  business  was 
"  delayed  by  many  rubbs  ;  for  the  Virginia  Counsell  was  so  dis 
turbed  with  factions  as  no  bussines  could  goe  forward "  (cf . 
§  34  and  Source  Book,  No.  49).  But  when  Sandys  and  the 
Puritan  faction  got  control  in  that  Company,  the  matter  was 
quickly  arranged,  —  the  more  quickly,  perhaps,  because  Brew- 
ster,  one  of  the  Pilgrim  leaders,  had  been  a  trusted  steward 
of  a  manor  belonging  to  the  Sandys  family. 

The  seventy  "  merchant  adventurers  "  who  furnished  funds 
subscribed  stock  in  £10  shares.  Captain  John  Smith  says 
that  by  1623  they  had  advanced  more  than  $200,000  in  modern 
values.2  Each  emigrant  was  counted  as  holding  one  share  for 
"  adventuring  "  himself.  That  is,  the  emigrant  and  the  capital 
that  brought  him  to  America  went  into  equal  partnership.  Each 
emigrant  who  furnished  money  or  supplies  was  given  more 
shares  upon  the  same  terms  as  the  merchants.  For  seven  years 
all  wealth  produced  was  to  go  into  a  common  stock,  but  from  that 
stock  the  colonists  were  to  have  "  meate,  drink,  apparell,  and 

1  Influential  frieuds  of  the  enterprise  urged  King  James  to  aid  by  grant 
ing  to  the  proposed  colony  the  privilege  of  its  own  form  of  worship.    A  formal 
promise  of  this  kind  was  not  secured ;  but  James  allowed  it  to  be  understood 
that  "  he  would  connive  at  them    .     .    .    provided  they  carried  themselves 
peaceably." 

2  This  is  probably  an  overstatement.    The  articles  of  partnership  may  be 
found  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  44. 


56  PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION  [§  64 

all  provissions."  The  partnership  was  then  to  be  dissolved, 
each  colonist  and  each  merchant  taking  from  the  common 
property  according  to  his  shares  of  stock. 

The  arrangement  was  clumsy,  because  it  involved  a  system 
of  labor  in  common ;  but  it  was  generous  toward  the  settlers. 
Penniless  immigrants  to  Virginia  became  "  servants,"  as  sepa 
rate,  helpless  individuals,  to  work  for  seven  years  under  over 
seers,  and  at  the  end  of  the  time  to  receive  merely  their  free 
dom  and  some  wild  land.  The  penniless  Pilgrims  were 
"  servants  "  for  a  time,  in  a  sense ;  but  only  as  one  large  body, 
and  to  a  company  of  which  they  themselves  were  part :  and 
their  persons  were  controlled,  and  their  labors  directed,  only  by 
officers  chosen  by  themselves  from  their  own  number. 

The  settlers,  it  is  true,  felt  aggrieved  that  the  merchants  did 
not  grant  them  also  for  themselves  one  third  of  their  time,  to 
gether  with  the  houses  they  might  build  and  the  land  they 
might  improve.  But  it  is  clear  now  that  under  such  an  ar 
rangement  the  merchants  would  have  lost  their  whole  venture. 
As  it  was,  they  made  nothing. 

64.  Two  heart-breaking  years  dragged  along  in  these 
negotiations  with  the  Virginia  Company  and  the  London 
merchants ;  and  the  season  of  1620  was  far  wasted  when  (Sep 
tember  16)  the  Mayflower  at  last  set  sail.  Most  of  the  con 
gregation  stayed  at  Leyden,  with  their  aged  pastor,  John 
Robinson,  to  await  the  outcome  of  this  first  expedition,  and 
only  102  of  the  more  robust  embarked  for  the  venture. 

They  meant  to  settle  "in  the  northern  part  of  Virginia,"  — 
somewhere  south  of  the  Hudson.  But  the  little  vessel  was 
tossed  by  the  autumn  storms  until  the  captain  lost  his  reckon 
ing  ;  and  they  made  land,  after  ten  weeks,  on  the  bleak  shore 
of  New  England,  already  in  the  clutch  of  winter  (November  21). 
The  tempestuous  season,  and  the  dangerous  shoals  off  Cape 
Cod,  made  it  unwise  to  continue  the  voyage.  For  some  weeks 
they  explored  the  coast  in  small  boats,  and  finally  decided  to 
make  their  home  at  a  place  which  Smith's  map  (§  58)  had  already 
christened  Plymouth;  but  it  was  not  till  the  fourth  day  of 


65] 


THE  MAYFLOWER  COMPACT 


57 


January1  that  they  "beganne   to  erecte  the  first  house,  for 
commone  use,  to  receive  them  and  their  goods." 


THE  MAYFLOWER  IN  PLYMOUTH  HARBOR.      From  an  imaginative 
painting  by  W.  F.  Halsall,  in  Pilgrim  Hall,  Plymouth. 

65.   Meantime,  they  had  adopted  the  Mayflower  Compact.      The 

charter  from  the  Virginia  Company  had  provided  that  they 
should  be  governed  by  officers  of  their  own  choosing.2  The 
grant,  however,  had  no  force  outside  Virginia ;  and  "  some  of 
the  strangers 3  among  them  let  fall  mutinous  speeches,"  threat 
ening  to  take  advantage  of  this  condition  and  "  to  use  their  own 
libertie."  To  prevent  such  anarchy,  the  Pilgrims,  before  land 
ing,  drew  up  and  signed  a  "  Compact"  believing  "  that  shuch  an 
acte  by  them  done  .  .  .  might  be  as  firme  as  any  patent." 

This  famous  agreement  has  sometimes  been  called,  care 
lessly,  a  written  constitution  of  an  independent  state.  This  it  is 

1  These  dates  are  New  Style.  Cf .  §  37,  note.  Some  common  errors  regard 
ing  the  Pilgrim  "  landing  "  are  criticized  by  Channing,  I,  320. 

2 The  exact  contents  of  the  charter  are  not  known;  but  Kobinson's  fare 
well  letter  to  the  emigrants,  when  they  were  leaving  Europe,  refers  to  them 
as  having  "  become  a  body  politik  ...  to  have  only  for  your  gouvernors  them 
which  yourselves  shall  make  choyse  of  "  (Source  Book,  No.  45). 

3  Part  of  the  expedition  had  joined  it  in  England,  without  previous  connec 
tion  with  the  Leyden  congregation,  They  had  also  a  few  "  servants." 


58  PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION  [§  65 

not.  It  does  not  hint  at  independence,  but  expresses  lavish 
allegiance  to  the  English  crown.  And  it  is  not  a  constitution : 
it  does  not  determine  what  officers  there  should  be,  nor  how  or 


of 


Hxneixtf-  -irtJcrfff**..  firff  S*  *'<-<>-  of  $<,£,  *„&*£<***&"•***** 

%?t&&Jy£t  L«*«f*f~*  ^^V^^.T^Tt 
J/Wjf^-w^  c-A*.tc  ~/*ir*w**  f-^  v,  ^'sr^T/^j 

A  XM  ^^/Wf  J*^'t ^«-  — A<^/  ~/FKe/,,c<   ,/  4-f>«« 

=^§^^pi^£. 


^I7^ee/.  <c  C-^U^^^/^^*^^^^ 
WATA  ^|»rv,«.>  */f  Ace,  S^f^/^^J  ^**^'^ 


^rif  Ca.%  — 


THE  MAYFLOWER  COMPACT.      From  the  original  manuscript  of 
Bradford's  Plimouth  Plantation. 

when  they  should  be  chosen,  nor  what  powers  they  should 
have.  It  resembles  the  preamble  to  a  constitution.  The 
signers  merely  declare  their  intention  (in  the  absence  of  estab 
lished  authority)  to  maintain  order  by  upholding  the  will  of 
the  majority  of  their  own  company.1 

The  way  in  which  the  new  government  was  put  in  action  is 
told  by  Bradford  in  few  words  :  — 

"Then  [as  soon  as  the  Compact  had  been  signed,  while  still  in  the 
Mayflower  cabin]  they  choose,  or  rather  confirmed,  Mr.  John  Carver  their 

1  Source  Book,  No.  46.  More  truly  regarded,  the  Compact  is  the  first  of  a 
long  series  of  similar  agreements  in  America,  in  regions  where  settlement 
has  for  a  time  outrun  government, — first,  on  the  coast  of  Maine  and  New 
Hampshire,  then  in  the  woods  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  then  on  the  prairies 
pf  Illinois  and  Iowa,  and  very  recently  in  Western  mining  camps. 


§  67]          DISAPPOINTMENTS  AND  HARDSHIPS  50 

Gouvernor  for  that  year.  [Carver  had  probably  been  made  governor  be 
fore,  under  authority  of  the  charter ;  such  action  would  now  need  to  be 
"confirmed."]  And  after  they  had  provided  a  place  for  their  goods  .  .  . 
and  begunne  some  small  cottages,  as  time  would  admitte,  they  inette  and 
consulted  of  lawes  and  orders." 

66.  Expectations  of  quick-won  wealth  in  America  still  dazzled 
men's  minds.     In  1624  Captain  John  Smith  wrote  :  — 

' '  I  promise  no  Mines  of  gold ;  yet,  .  .  .  New  England  hath  yeelded 
already,  by  generall  computation,  £100,000  at  least  in  the  fisheries.  There 
fore,  honourable  countrymen,  let  not  the  meanness  of  the  word  fish  dis 
taste  you,  for  it  will  afford  as  good  gold  as  the  Mines  of  Guiana,  or 
Potassie,  with  less  hazard  and  charge,  and  more  certainty." 

Individual  traders,  too,  had  sometimes  made  sudden  fortunes 
in  the  fur  trade.  Accordingly,  the  Pilgrims  expected  to  give 
most  of  their  energies  to  these  sources  of  magic  riches.  Pastor 
Robinson  wrote,  as  late  as  June  14,  1620  : — 

"Let  this  spetially  be  borne  in  minde,  that  the  greatest  parte  of  the 
collonie  is  like  to  be  imployed  constantly,  not  upon  dressing  ther  pertic- 
uler  lands  and  building  houses,  but  upon  fishing,  trading,  etc." 

67.  Such  delusions  faded   quickly  before   stern   facts.     The 
first  months,  in  particular,  were  a  time  of  cruel  hardship.     Says 
Bradford,  — 

"Now,  summer  being  done,  all  things  stand  upon  them  with  a  wether- 
beaten  face  ;  and  the  whole  countrie,  full  of  woods  and  thickets,  repre 
sented  a  wild  and  savage  hiew.  ...  In  2  or  3  months  time,  halfe  their 
company  dyed  .  .  .  wanting  houses  and  other  comforts;  [and  of  the 
rest]  in  the  time  of  most  distres,  ther  was  but  6  or  7  sound  persons"  to 
care  for  all  the  sick  and  dying. 

Of  the  eighteen  married  women  who  landed  in  January,  May 
found  living  only  four.  The  settlement  escaped  the  tomahawk 
that  first  terrible  winter  only  because  a  plague  (probably  the 
smallpox,  caught  from  some  trading  vessel)  had  destroyed  the 
Indians  in  the  neighborhood.  But  when  spring  came  and  the 
Mayflower  sailed  for  England,  not  one  person  of  the  steadfast 
colony  went  with  her.  In  Holland  they  had  carefully  pon 
dered  the  dangers  that  might  assail  them,  and  had  highly 


60 


PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION 


[§67 


concluded  "that  all   greate  and   honorable  actions   must  be 
enterprised  and  overcome  with  answerable  courages." 

For  many  years  more  the  settlement  had  a  stern  struggle 
for  bare  life.     For  the  fur  trade,  of  course,  the  inexperienced 

Pilgrims  were  wholly  un 
fit ;  and,  in  any  case,  to 
set  up  a  permanent  colony, 
with  women  and  children, 
called  pressingly  for  at 
tention  to  raising  food  and 
building  homes. 

The  "  supplies "  ex 
pected  from  the  London 
partners  came,  from  year 
to  year,  in  too  meager 
measure  to  care  even  for 
the  new  immigrants  who 
EDWARB  WINSLOW  when  six  years  old.  appeared  along  with  them ; 
From  a  miniature  painted  in  1602,  now  and  the  Crops  of  European 
in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  William  C.  grains  failed  season  after 
Winslow  of  Boston.  Winslow  is  the  ^^  Fortunatel  dur_ 
only  Pilgrim  of  whom  we  have  an  an-  .  J ' 

thentic  likeness.    Except  for  Standish    ing  the  first  winter,  the 
he  is  probably  the  only  one  who  in  Eng 
land    could    rank    as    a    "  gentleman," 
though  Brewster  approached  that  stand 
ing. 


colonists  found  a  supply 
of  Indian  corn  for  seed, 
and  a  friendly  native  to 
teach  them  how  to  culti 
vate  it ;  and  the  old  cornfields  of  the  abandoned  Indian  villages 
saved  them  the  formidable  labor  of  clearing  away  the  forest. 
The  slow  progress,  even  then,  toward  a  secure  supply  of  food 
is  shown  vividly  in  a  letter  from  Edward  Winslow  at  the  end 
of  the  first  year  (Source  Book,  No.  48  a) :  — 

"  We  have  built  seven  dwelling  houses,  and  four  for  the  use  of  the 
plantation  [for  common  use,  that  is,  as  storehouses,  etc.],  and  have  made 
preparation  for  divers  others.  We  set,  the  last  spring,  some  twenty  acres 
of  Indian  corn,  and  sowed  some  six  acres  of  barley  and  pease.  .  .  .  God 
be  praised,  we  had  good  increase  of  [the]  Indian  corn,  and  of  our  barley, 


§  68]  EARLY  HARDSHIPS  61 

indifferent  good,  but  our  pease  not  worth  the  gathering."  [Winslow  ex 
plains  this  failure  of  the  European  seed  by  the  colonists'  ignorance  of  the 
seasons  in  America.] 

In  the  first  year,  then,  the  settlers  had  built  only  eleven 
rude  cabins  and  had  brought  only  26  acres  of  land  into  cultiva 
tion.  Winslow  was  writing  to  a  friend  in  England  who  ex 
pected  soon  to  join  the  colony.  The  following  advice  in  the 
same  letter  suggests  forcefully  some  features  of  life  in  the  new 
settlement :  — 

"Bring  every  man  a  musket.  .  .  .  Let  it  be  long  in  the  barrel,  and 
fear  not  the  weight  of  it ;  for  most  of  our  shooting  is  from  stands  [rests] . 
If  you  bring  anything  for  comfort  [that  is,  anything  more  than  bare  nec 
essaries],  butter  or  sallet  oil  .  .  .  [is]  very  good.  .  .  .  Bring  paper  and 
linseed  oile  for  your  windows,  and  cotton  yarn  for  your  lamps  [for  wicks]." 

68.  For  long  the  governor's  most  important  duty  was  to 
direct  the  work  in  the  fields  —  where  he  toiled,  too,  with  his 
own  hands,  along  with  all  the  men  and  the  larger  boys.  But 
even  among  these  "  sober  and  godly  men  "  the  system  of  indus 
try  in  common  proved  a  hindrance  :  — 

"For  this  communitie  was  found  to  breed  much  confusion  and  discon- 
tente,  and  retard  much  imployment  that  would  have  been  to  their  benefite 
and  comforte.  Eor  the  yung-rnen,  that  wepe  most  able  and  fitte,  .  .  . 
did  repine  that  they  should  spend  their  time  and  strength  to  worke  for 
other  mens  wives  and  children.  .  .  .  The  aged  and  graver  men,  to  be 
ranked  and  equalised  in  labours  and  victuals,  cloaths,  etc.,  with  the 
younger  and  meaner  sorte,  thought  it  some  iridignitie  and  disrespect  unto 
them.  And  for  mens  wives  to  be  commanded  to  doe  service  for  other 
men,  as  dressing  their  meate,  washing  their  cloaths,  etc.,  they  deemed  it 
a  kind  of  slaverie  ;  neither  could  many  husbands  well  brooke  it. " 

In  the  third  year,  famine  seemed  imminent.  Then  Governor 
Bradford,  with  the  approval  of  the  chief  men  of  the  colony,  set 
aside  the  agreement  with  the  London  partners  in  this  matter  of 
common  industry,  and  assigned  to  each  family  a  parcel  of  land 
("for  the  time  only"1).  "This,"  says  Bradford,  "had  very 
good  success,"  — 

1  This  arrangement  for  individual  labor  and  property  applied  only  to  the 
agricultural  produce.  Such  trade  and  fishery  as  were  carried  on  remained 


62  PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION  [§  69 

"for  it  made  all  hands  very  industrious,  so  as  much  more  corne  was 
planted  then  other  waise  would  have  been,  by  any  means  the  Governour 
or  any  other  could  use.  .  .  .  The  women  now  wente  willingly  into  the 
field,  and  tooke  their  litle-ons  with  them  to  set  corne,  which  before  would 
aledge  weakness  .  .  .  whom  to  have  compelled  would  have  bene  thought 
great  tiranie." 

For  other  reasons,  too,  the  danger  of  failure  passed  away. 
The  Pilgrims  were  learning  to  use  the  opportunities  about 
them.  In  1627,  when  the  partnership  was  to  have  expired, 
little  had  been  done,  it  is  true,  toward  repaying  the  London 
merchants.  But  the  beginning  of  a  promising  fur  trade  had 
bSen  secured ;  and  Bradford,  with  seven  other  leading  men, 
offered  to  assume  the  English  debt  if  they  might  have  control 
of  this  trade  to  raise  the  money.  This  arrangement  was 
accepted  by  all  parties. 

It  took  Bradford  fourteen  years  more  to  pay  the  merchants. 
But  meantime  the  merchants  at  once  surrendered  their  claim 
upon  the  colony ;  and  the  lands,  houses,  and  cattle  were  promptly 
divided  among  the  settlers  for  private  property. 

69.  The  political  development  of  Plymouth  may  be  summed 
up  under  four  heads :  — 

(TJie  executive.)  Governor  Carver  died  during  the  first 
spring.  The  next  governor,  William  Bradford,  was  reflected 
year  after  year  until  his  death,  in  1657,  except  for  five  years 
when  he  absolutely  refused  to  serve.  Governor  and  several 
"  Assistants,"  to  advise  and  aid  him,  were  chosen  anew  each 
spring.  Much  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  governor ;  but 
the  Assembly  could  check  him  at  any  time. 

TJie  Assembly  was  the  essential  part  of  the  government. 
For  many  years  it  was,  in  form,  merely  a  town  meeting,  — 
a  mass  meeting  of  the  voters  of  one  small  village.  Soon  after 
1630,  other  settlements  grew  up  in  the  colony,  but  even  then  the 
Assembly  continued  for  a  time  to  be  a  meeting  of  all  male  citi 
zens,  held  in  the  oldest  town.  However,  this  clumsy  and  un- 

under  common  management ;  and  even  these  parcels  of  land  did  not  at  this 
time  become  private  property.  Only  their  temporary  use  was  given. 


§  70]  DEMOCRACY  63 

fair  system  could  not  last  among  Englishmen.  In  1636  the 
three  chief  towns  sent  representatives  to  sit  with  the  governor 
and  assistants  to  revise  and  codify  the  laws.  The  same  device 
was  used  the  next  year  in  assessing  taxes  among  the  towns. 
And  in  1639  it  was  decided  that  thereafter  the  Assembly  should 
be  made  up  of  such  representatives,  with  the  governor  and 
assistants.  There  was  never  a  division  into  two  "  Houses." 

(Local  government?)  As  other  villages  grew  up  about  the 
original  settlement  at  Plymouth  town,  their  constables  and 
other  necessary  officers  were  at  first  appointed  by  the  central 
Assembly.  But,  soon  after  the  central  government  became 
representative,  the  various  settlements  became  "  towns  "  in  a 
political  sense,  with  town  meetings,  and  their  own  elected 
officers,  after  a  method  introduced  just  before  in  Massachusetts 
Bay  (§  92), 

(Franchise.)  The  first  voters  were  the  forty-one *  signers  of 
the  Mayflower  Compact.  They  made  up  the  original  Assem 
bly.  Thereafter,  the  Assembly  admitted  to  citizenship  as  it 
saw  fit.  For  a  time  it  gave  the  franchise  to  nearly  all  men 
who  came  to  the  colony.  But  in  1660  a  law  required  that  new 
voters  must  have  a  specified  amount  of  property  ;  and  after 
1671,  the  franchise  was  restricted  further  to  those  who  could 
present  "  satisfactory  "  proof  that  they  were  "  sober  and  peace 
able  "  in  conduct  and  "  orthodox  in  the  fundamentals  of  religion" 
In  practice,  this  limited  the  franchise  to  church  members. 

70.  Political  democracy  at  Plymouth  was  an  outgrowth  of 
economic  and  social  democracy.  There  were  no  materials  for 
anything  else 2  but  democracy.  No  one  was  rich,  even  by  colo- 

1  Out  of  sixty-six  adult  males.    Of  the  twenty-five  who  did  not  sign  (over 
a  third  of  all),  some  were  regarded  as  represented  by  fathers  who  did  sign, 
and  eleven  were  servants  or  temporary  employees ;  but  the  absence  of  other 
names  can  be  explained  only  on  the  ground  that  certain  men  did  not  wish  to 
sign  or  that  they  were  not  asked  to  do  so. 

2  Robinson,  in  a  farewell  letter  (Pastor  Robinson  remained  with  the  main 
congregation  at  Leyden)  regards  it  a  misfortune  that  the  Pilgrims  "are  not 
furnished  with  any  persons  of  spetiall  eminencie  above  the  rest,  to  be  chosen 
into  offices  of  governmente."    Had  such  persons  been  present,  public  feeling, 


64 


PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION 


[§71 


nial  standards  ;  and,  more  than  in  any  other  important  colony, 
all  the  settlers  came  from  the  "  plain  people."  Hardly  any  of 
them  would  have  ranked  as  "  gentlemen  "  in  England.  Brad 

ford,  there,  would  have  re 
mained  a  poor  yeoman,  and 
John  Alden  a  cooper. 

But,  in  even  greater  de 
gree,  democracy  in  politics 
at  Plymouth  resulted  from 
democracy  in  the  church,  — 
and  this  ecclesiastical  de 
mocracy  was  essential  to 
the  Pilgrim  ideal.  Plym 
outh  ivas,  first,  a  religious 
society  ;  then,  an  economic 
enterprise  ;  and,  last,  and 
incidentally,  a  political  com 
monwealth. 

71.  Plymouth  never  se 
cured  a  royal  charter,  and 


GOVERNOR  EDWARD  WINSLOW  at  the  age 
of  57.  From  a  portrait  (now  in  Pil 
grim  Hall,  Plymouth)  painted  in  Eng 
land  in  1653  while  Winslow  was  de-  upon  the  basis  of  the  May- 
tained  there  on  a  diplomatic  mission,  flower  Compact  until  King 
to  arrange  relations  between  Plymouth  ™r-iv  TTT  -,  ,n 

and  the  new  Puritan  Commonwealth.  William  III  annexed  the 
This  was  one  of  four  such  missions  to  colony  to  Massachusetts  ill 
England.  Bradford  was  the  adminis- 
trative  head  of  Plymouth  jStandish,  its 
military  chief ;  Wmslow,  its  statesman 
and  man  of  affairs. 


its    government    remained 


1691.  Nor  did  the  early 
settlers  have  legal  title  to 
their  land.  In  1630,  how 
ever,  the  proprietary  New 

England  Council  granted  the  territory  to  Bradford  as  trustee 
for  the  colony.  Bradford  kept  the  grant  until  he  and  his 
seven  associates  had  paid  off  the  huge  debt  they  had  assumed 

even  in  Plymouth,  would  probably  have  made  them  an  aristocracy  of  office. 
Democracy  at  that  time  rarely  went  farther  than  to  suggest  that  common  men 
ought  to  have  a  voice  in  selecting  their  rulers.  The  actual  ruling  was  to  be 
left  in  the  hands  of  those  selected  from  the  upper  classes. 


§  72]  PLACE   IN  HISTORY  65 

for  the  colony  (§  68).  Then,  in  1641,  with  solemn  ceremony, 
he  surrendered  his  rights  to  the  whole  body  of  settlers.  The 
colony  then  gave  legal  titles  to  the  assignments  of  land  it  had 
made. 

72.  The  colony  grew  slowly,  counting  less  than  three  hundred 
people  in  1630,1  when  the  great  Puritan  migration  to  Massachu 
setts  Bay  began.  The  Puritan  colonies,  then  established,  grew 
much  faster  and  taught  more  important  lessons  in  politics 
and  economics.  Plymouth  had  little  direct  influence,  in  either 
of  these  ways,  upon  later  American  history.  It  did  have  a 
large  part  in  directing  the  later  Puritan  colonies  toward  church 
independency ;  but  its  supreme  service,  after  all,  lay  in  pointing 
the  way  for  that  later  and  greater  migration.  This  the  Pilgrims 
did ;  and  with  right  their  friends  wrote  them  later,  when  the 
little  colony  was  already  overshadowed  by  its  neighbors, — 
"  Let  it  not  be  grievous  to  you  that  you  have  been  but  instruments 
to  break  the  ice  for  others :  the  honor  shall  be  yours  till  the  world's 
end." 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — Bradford's  Plymouth  Plantation  will  be 
enjoyed  by  many  high  school  students  as  far  as  to  page  200.  (The  latter 
part  of  the  work  is  taken  up  largely  with  details  of  financial  arrangements 
with  the  London  partners,  and  is  difficult  reading.)  Excellent  secondary 
accounts  are  given  by  Tyler  {England  in  America,  149-182)  and  by 
Channing  (I,  293-321).  Perhaps  the  most  dramatic  portraiture  of  the 
leaders  is  found  in  Eggleston's  Beginners  of  a  Nation.  Jane  G.  Austin's 
stories,  especially  Standish  of  Standish,  are  worthy  of  mention. 

EXERCISE.  — 1.  Trace  the  title  of  a  piece  of  property  purchased  in 
1642  from  John  Alden  and  never  held  previously  by  any  other  private 
owner.  2.  Distinguish  between  Plymouth  town,  Plymouth  colony,  and 
the  Plymouth  Council.  3.  Examine  the  Source  Book  on  Plymouth  for 
information  not  given  in  this  volume,  and  report.  4.  Explain  two 
meanings  of  "  New  England."  5.  Compare  the  maps  on  pages  29  and  51, 
and  note  that  on  page  56  "  Virginia"  is  used  in  its  original  meaning  as  in 
the  map  on  page  25. 

1  EXERCISE.  —  Find  authority  for  these  figures  in  one  of  the  Plymouth 
documents  in  the  Source  Book.  Study  No.  50  in  the  Source  Book  for  illustra 
tions  of  democratic  progress. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   FOUNDING  OF  MASSACHUSETTS   BAY 

God  hath  sifted  a  nation,  that  he  might  send  choice  grain  into  this 
wilderness.  —  WILLIAM  STOUGHTON,  Election  Sermon  IN  1690. 

73.  SOME   commercial  beginnings   of   colonization   in   New 
England  have  been  mentioned  (§  58).     One  such   enterprise 
became  the  foundation  for  the  Puritan  Colony  of  Massachu 
setts.     A  partnership  of  merchants  in  the  west  of  England, 
mainly  about  Dorchester,  had  been  engaged  in  the  New  England 
fisheries  for  several  years.      In  1623,  in  order  to  carry  on  the 
business  better,  they  established  some  forty  employees  in  a 
station  at  Cape  Ann,  under  Roger  Conant l  as  overseer.     During 
the   next  three   years  the  Dorchester  partnership  was  over 
whelmed  by  heavy  losses,  and  in  1626  it  broke  up,  after  sending 
a  vessel  to  bring  home  the  colonists.      But  John  White,2  one  of 
the  partners,  by  earnest  promises  of  supplies,  induced  Conant 
and  four  others  to  stay  in  America,  and  the  next  year  he 
succeeded  in  organizing  a  strong  company  of  Dorchester  and 
London  merchants  to  renew  the  work  of  trade  and  colonization. 

74.  This  new  company  came  to  be  known  as  The  Company 
for  Massachusetts  Bay.     In  the  spring  of  1628  it  bought  from 
the  New  England  Council  the  territory  between  the  Charles 
and  the  Merrimac  rivers  (extending  west  to  the  Pacific),  and 
during  the  summer  it  sent  out  sixty  settlers  under  John  Endi- 

1  Conant  drifted  to  Cape  Ann  from  Plymouth,  which  he  left,  he  said,  out 
of  dislike  for  the  extreme  principles  of  the  Separatists.    How  he  came  to 
Plymouth  we  do  not  know.    Possibly  he  was  one  of  the  gentlemen  in  the 
Gorges  expedition. 

2  White's  "Brief  Relation"  (Source  Book,  No.  58)  is  the  authority  for 
most  of  the  early  history  of  this  colony. 

66 


§  76]  COMMERCIAL    BEGINNINGS  67 

cottj  a  well-known  Puritan  gentleman.  Conant,  meanwhile, 
had  removed  from  the  exposed  position  at  Cape  Ann  to  a  more 
convenient  location  near  by.  His  "  old  settlers  "  at  first  were 
inclined  to  dispute  Endicott' s  authority,  but  finally  they  recog 
nized  him  peaceably  as  head  of  the  settlement  —  to  which 
accordingly  he  gave  the  Hebrew  name  Salem  (Peace). 

75.  A  year  later  (March  14,  1629)  the  Massachusetts  Com 
pany  secured  a  charter  from  King  Charles.     At  the  time  this 
"  First  Charter  of  Massachusetts  Bay  "  (as  it  came  to  be  called 
later)  was  merely  a  grant  to  the  commercial  proprietary  com 
pany  in  England.     It  confirmed  their  title  to  the  land  they  had 
bought  from  the  New  England  Council,   and  it   gave   them 
jurisdiction  over  settlers,  similar  to  the  authority  possessed  by 
other  colonizing  companies  in  England,  though  more  restricted.1 

The  Company  now  appointed  Endicott  governor 2  at  Salem, 
collected  supplies  of  all  sorts  diligently,  and  sought  out  desir 
able  emigrants  of  various  trades.  In  May  of  1629  it  sent  out 
its  second  expedition,  of  some  200  settlers,  led  by  Francis 
Higgiiison,  a  Puritan  minister.3  Soon  after,  a  Puritan  church 
was  organized  in  Salem. 

76.  So  far  the  history  of  the  colony  is  like  that  of  other  com 
mercial  plantations.     Most  of  the  settlers  were  "  servants,"  and 
rather  a  worthless  lot  (§  80).     The  chief  men  were  Puritans 
because  it  was  easier  just  then  for  an  emigration  in  England 
to  find   fit   leaders   among  the   Puritans   than  among   other 
classes ;   and  the  proprietary   Company  was  Puritan,  on   the 
whole,  because  almost  the  whole  merchant  class  in  England 
was  Puritan.     But  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  one  was  plan 
ning,  as  yet,  to  build   a  Puritan  colony.     Later  in  this  same 


1  Source  Book,  Nos.  53-55.  This  charter  did  not  authorize  capital  punish 
ment,  martial  law,  control  over  immigration,  or  coinage  of  money,  —  though 
all  these  powers  were  exercised  under  it. 

2  Ib.,  No.  63.  Until  the  Company  secured  the  charter,  it  had  no  power  to 
appoint  officers  in  America.  Endicott  had  been  its  "agent,"  without  legal 
control  over  settlers  except  over  those  who  were  "  servants  "  of  the  Company. 

8  /&.,  No.  56,  for  the  "  agreement"  with  Higginson. 


68  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  COLONY  [§  77 

summer  of  1629,  however,  a  new  colonizing  movement  began, 
with  that  special  purpose. 

77.  This  new  movement  was  due  to  a  new  danger  to  Puritanism 
in  England.  For  years,  despite  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the 
Puritans,  the  English  Church  had  been  carried  farther  and 
farther  away  from  their  ideals.  Bishop  Laud,  the  tireless 
leader  of  the  High-church  movement,  was  ardently  supported 
by  King  Charles.  All  high  ecclesiastical  offices  had  been 
turned  over  to  Laud's  followers ;  and  his  "  High  Commission  " 
Court,  with  dungeon  and  pillory,  was  now  ready  to  drive 
Puritan  pastors  from  their  parishes. 

The  Puritans  had  rested  their  hope  upon  parliament.  They 
made  the  great  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and  with 
the  meeting  of  the  third  parliament  of  Charles  (1628),  their 
reform  seemed  on  the  verge  of  success.  That  parliament 
extorted  the  King's  assent  to  the  great  "  Petition  of  Right "  ; 1 
and  then,  in  the  winter  of  1629,  it  began  vigorously  to  regu 
late  the  church.  But  the  King  struck  a  despotic  blow. 
March  2,  he  dissolved  parliament,  sent  its  leaders  to  the 
Tower,  and  entered  upon  a  system  of  absolute  rule.  For 
eleven  years  no  parliament  was  to  meet  in  England.  Reli- 
gious  reform  and  political  liberty  had  gone  down  in  common 
ruin,  the  end  of  which  no  man  then  could  see. 

The  continent  of  Europe  offered  no  hope.  Every  form  of 
Protestantism  there  seemed  doomed.  Wallenstein's  victo 
rious  troopers  were  turning  the  Protestant  provinces  of 
Germany  into  wilderness  homes  for  wild  beasts ;  and  in 
France  the  great  Richelieu  had  just  crushed  the  Huguenots. 

Accordingly,  the  more  dauntless  of  the  English  Puritans 
turned  their  eyes  to  the  New  World.  And  there  they  saw  a 
marvelous  opportunity.  At  Plymouth  was  the  colony  of  the 
Separatists,  not  large,  but  safely  past  the  stage  of  experiment ; 
while  close  by  was  the  prosperous  beginning  of  a  commercial 

1  The  course  of  the  Puritan  struggle  in  England  is  told  compactly  in  the 
Modern  World  in  seven  pages  (§§420-435).  Brief  explanation  of  the  events 
referred  to  in  Germany  and  France  can  be  found  in  the  same  text,  §§  407-410, 


§  79]      THE   DANGER   TO  ENGLISH  PURITANISM          69 

colony  controlled  by  a  Puritan  company  in  England  and 
managed  on  the  spot  by  well-known  Puritans  like  Endicott 
and  Higginson.  How  natural  to  try  to  convert  this  Massa 
chusetts  into  a  refuge  for  Low-church  Puritanism,  such  as 
Plymouth  already  was  for  "  Puritans  of  the  Separation." 

78.  But  the  leaders  of  this  new  movement  had  no  idea  of  be 
coming  part  of  a  mere  plantation  governed  by  a  distant  proprietary 
company,   however  friendly.     They  were   of   the  ruling   aris 
tocracy  of    England,  —  justices   of    their    counties,   and,    on 
occasion,  members  of  parliament.     And  so  a  number  of  them 
gathered,  by  long  horseback  journeys,  and  signed  the  famous 
Cambridge    Agreement     (August    25),   promising   one   another 
solemnly  that  they  would  embark  for  Massachusetts  with  their 
families  and  fortunes,  if  they  could  find  a  way  to  take  with  them 
the  charter  and  the  " whole  government" l 

79.  A  proposal  to  transfer  the  government  of  the  Company  to 
America  had  been  made  a  month  before  at  the  July  meeting  of 
the  Company  in  London.     The  plan  was  novel  to  most  of  the 
members ;  but  in  September,  after  repeated  debates,  it  was  ap 
proved.2    Commercial  motives  faded  beside  the  supreme  desire 
to  provide  a  safe  refuge  for  Puritan  principles. 

The  new  men  of  the  Cambridge  Agreement  now  bought  stock ; 
many  old  stockholders  drew  out ;  the  old  officers  resigned 
(since  they  did  not  wish  to  emigrate) ;  and  John  Winthrop,  the 
most  prominent  of  the  new  men,  was  elected  "  governor " 
(October,  1629).  The  next  spring,  Winthrop  led  to  Massachu 
setts  a  great  Puritan  migration,  —  the  most  remarkable  colo 
nizing  expedition  that  the  world  had  ever  seen. 

Previously  the  governor  had  been  Matthew  Cradock,  and  his  term 
would  not  have  expired  regularly  until  the  next  May.  This  position  cor 
responded  to  that  of  "treasurer"  in  the  London  Company.  It  must  not 
be  confounded  with  the  subordinate  "governorship"  held  by  Endicott, 
any  more  than  Sandys'  position  as  head  of  the  London  Company  in  1619 

1  Source  Book,  Nos.  58  6  and  59. 

2  For  a  detailed  discussion  on  the  transfer  of  the  charter,  cf.  Source  Book, 
No.  53,  and  comments  at  close. 


70 


MASSACPIUSETTS  BAY  COLONY 


[§80 


is  to  be  confounded  with  the  position  of  Yeardley  in  Virginia.  Win- 
throp  was  the  second  governor  of  the  Company.  When  he  came  to 
America,  he  superseded  Endicott  (for  whose  separate  office  there  was  no 

further  need),  and  became 
governor  of  the  colony  also. 
The  two  offices  merged. 

For  the  first  time  a  proprie 
tary  corporation  removed  to 
its  colony.  Colony  and  cor 
poration  merged.  Massachu 
setts  became  a  corporate  colony 
and  a  Puritan  commonwealth. 

80.  In  May,  1629,  Endi 
cott  had  a  hundred  settlers 
at  Salem.  In  June,  when 
Higginson  arrived  with 
two  hundred  more  (§  75), 
another  plantation  was 
begun  at  Charlestown.1 
Now,  in  the  summer  of 
1630,  seventeen  ships 
brought  two  thousand 
settlers  to  Massachusetts, 
and  six  new  towns2  were 
started. 

But  the  immigrants  found  conditions  sadly  different  from 
their  expectations.  Two  hundred  returned  home  in  the  ships 
that  brought  them,  or  sought  better  prospects  in  other  colonies ; 
and  two  hundred  more  died  before  December.  Immediately 

1  The  next  winter  slew  nearly  a  third  of  the  colonists ;  and  in  June  of  1630 
Winthrop  found  the  survivors  starving  and  demoralized.    Four  fifths  of  them 
were  servants  of  the  Company;   but  they  had  accomplished  nothing,  and 
Winthrop  thought  it  cheaper  to  free  them  than  to  feed  them.    There  were  also 
seven  other  little  settlements  along  the  coast  —  like  that  of  Blackstone  at 
Boston  —  with  a  total  population  of  some  fifty  souls.  These  scattered  planta 
tions  were  the  remnants  of  the  commercial  attempts  mentioned  in  §  58. 

2  Boston,  Dorchester,  Watertown,  Roxbury,  and  minor  settlements  at  Lynn 
(Saugus)  and  Newtown  (afterward  Cambridge).    There  were  also  the  two 
older  towns,  Salem  and  Charlestown.    See  map,  p.  107. 


JOHN  WINTHROP.  From  a  portrait  in  the 
State  House  at  Boston,  painted  in  Eng 
land  before  the  migration,  and  attributed 
to  Van  Dyck. 


§  80]  "  THE   GREAT  MIGRATION  "  71 

on  his  arrival,  Winthrop,  in  fear  of  famine  before  the  next  sum 
mer,  wisely  hurried  back  a  ship  for  supplies.  Its  prompt 
return,  in  February,  saved  the  colony.  According  to  one  story, 
Winthrop  had  just  given  his  last  measure  of  meal  to  a  destitute 
neighbor. 

Meantime  the  deserters  spread  such  discouragement  in  Eng 
land  that  for  the  next  two  years  emigration  to  Massachusetts 
ceased.  In  1633,  however,  it  began  again.  Soon  the  ship- 
money1  troubles  gave  it  new  impetus,  and  it  went  on,  at  the 
average  volume  of  three  thousand  people  a  year,  until  the  Long 
Parliament  was  summoned. 

Thus  the  eleven  years  of  "  No  Parliament "  in  England  saw 
twenty-Jive  thousand  selected  Englishmen  transported  to  New  Eng 
land.  This  was  the  "  Great  Migration  "  of  1629-1640.  In  1640 
the  movement  stopped  short.2  Says  Winthrop,  "The  parlia 
ment  in  England  setting  upon  a  general  reformation  both  in 
church  and  state,  .  .  .  this  caused  all  men  to  stay  in  England 
in  expectation  of  a  New  World  "  there.  Indeed,  the  migration 
turned  the  other  way ;  and  many  of  the  boldest  and  best  New 
England  Puritans  hurried  back  to  the  old  home,  now  that  there 
was  a  chance  to  fight  for  Puritan  principles  there.3 

New  England  had  no  further  immigration  of  consequence  until  after 
the  Rev9lution.  But  this  coming  of  the  Puritans,  during  England's  ten 

1  For  English  history  in  this  period,  see  Modern  World,  §§  436  ff. 

2  The  sudden  stop  in  immigration  caused  great  industrial  depression. 
Until  that  time  the  colony  had  been  unable  to  raise  sufficient  supplies  for  its 
use.     Newcomers  brought  money  with  them,  and  gladly  paid  for  cattle  and 
food  the  price  in  England  plus  the  cost  of  transportation.      In  an  instant  this 
was  changed.    The  colony  had  more  of  such  supplies  than  it  could  use,  and 
high  freights  made  export  impossible.      Both  Bradford  and  Winthrop  lament 
the  falling  in  prices,  —  for  a  cow  from  £20  to  £5,  etc.,  —  without  very  clear 
ideas  as  to  its  cause.    The  phenomenon  has  been  repeated  many  times  on  our 
moving  frontier. 

3  Winthrop's  third  son  and  one  of  his  nephews  went  back  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  general  under  Cromwell,  while  the  Reverend  Hugh  Peter,  —  rather  a 
troublesome  busybody  in  the  colony, —  became  Cromwell's  chaplain.    Such 
facts  help  us  to  understand  that  the  larger  figures  on  the  small  New  England 
stage,  like  Winthrop  and  his  gallant  son,  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  were  fit  compan 
ions  for  the  greatest  actors  on  the  great  European  stage  in  that  great  day. 


72  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  COLONY  [§  81 

hopeless  years,  is  one  of  the  fruitful  facts  in  history.  The  twenty-five 
thousand  are  the  ancestors  of  about  a  sixth  of  our  population  to-day;  and 
we  owe  to  them  much  more  than  a  sixth  of  our  higher  life  in  America. 
Said  an  old  Puritan  preacher,  with  high  insight,  "God  hath  sifted  a 
nation,  that  he  might  send  choice  grain  into  this  wilderness." 

81.  True,  motives  were  somewhat  mixed.  The  twenty-five 
thousand  immigrants  were  not  all  Puritans ;  and  the  Puri 
tans  were  not  all  saints.  Some  little  communities,  like 
Marblehead,1  were  made  up  wholly  of  rude  fishermen  with 
little  interest  in  the  Puritan  movement;  and  the  Puritan 
settlements  themselves  contained  many  "servants."2  These 
were  sometimes  a  bad  lot,  with  the  vices  of  an  irresponsible,  un 
trained,  hopeless  class.3 

The  great  body  of  the  Puritans  themselves  had  been  shop 
keepers,  artisans,  and  small  farmers  in  England.  They  were 
plain,  uneducated  men  who  followed  a  trusted  minister  or  an 
honored  neighbor  of  the  gentry  class.  Very  largely,  they 
came  to  get  away  from  the  pressure  of  poverty  in  their  old 
homes.  They  felt  keenly  the  force  of  Winthrop's  argument :  — 

"  This  Land  growes  weary  of  her  Inhabitants,  soe  as  man,  who  is  the 
most  pretious  of  God's  creatures,  is  here  ...  of  less  prise  among  us  than 
an  horse  or  a  sheepe  .  .  .  Why  then  should  we  stand  striving  here  .  .  . 
(many  men  spending  as  much  labour  and  coste  to  ...  keepe  an  acre  or 
tuoe  of  Land  as  would  procure  many  hundred  as  good  or  better  in  an 
other  Countrie)  and  in  the  meantime  suffer  a  whole  Continent,  fruitfull 
and  convenient,  to  lie  waste  ?"  (Source  Book,  No.  59,  for  the  rest  of 
this  paper.  Cf.  also  §  24.) 

1  Cotton  Mather  tells  how  a  preacher  from  another  town,  visiting  Marble- 
head  and  praising  their  devotion  to  principle,  was  interrupted  by  a  rough 
voice,  —  "  You  think  you  are  talking  to  the  people  of  the  Bay:  we  came  here 
to  catch  fish." 

2  Winthrop  alone  had  some  twenty  male  servants,  some  of  them  married. 
8  On  the  voyage,  cheats  and  drunkards  from  this  class  had  to  receive  severe 

punishment.  After  reaching  America,  the  better  ones  were  sometimes  de 
moralized.  They  saw  vastly  greater  opportunity  for  free  labor  than  they  had 
ever  dreamed ;  but  they  had  ignorantly  bound  themselves  to  service  through 
the  best  years  of  their  lives.  Brooding  upon  this  led  some  to  crime  or  suicide. 
(Find  authority  for  these  statements  in  the  Source  Book.) 


§  82]  A  PURITAN  COMMONWEALTH  73 

Nor  were  the  greatest  of  the  Puritans  moved  by  religious 
motives  only.  They,  too,  expected  to  better  their  worldly 
condition.  Even  John  Winthrop  had  been  induced  to  emigrate, 
in  part,  by  the  decay  of  his  fortune  in  England.  As  he  ex 
plained,  in  the  third  person,  to  his  friends,  "  His  meanes  heer 
are  soe  shortened  as  he  shall  not  be  able  to  continue  in  the 
same  place  and  callinge  [as  before]  ;  and  so,  if  he  should  refuse 
this  opportunitye,  that  talent  which  God  hath  bestowed  upon  him 
for  publick  service  ivere  like  to  be  buried." 1  Many  others  of  the 
1630  migration  had  been  deluded  by  "  the  too  large  commenda 
tions  "  of  New  England  which  Higginson  had  sent  back  in  the 
preceding  summer  (Source  Book,  No.  59  d). 

But  when  these  dreams  faded,  the  more  steadfast  spirits  did 
not  falter,  but  showed  bravely  the  higher  aims  that  moved 
them  most.  Dudley,  a  disappointed  but  stout-hearted  com 
panion  of  Winthrop,  in  his  Letter  to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln 
(Source  Book),  speaks  with  charity  of  "  falling  short  of  our  ex 
pectations,  to  our  great  prejudice  [loss],  by  means  of  letters 
sent  us  hence  into  England,  wherein  honest  men,  out  of  a  desire 
to  draw  others  to  them,  wrote  someivhat  hyperbollically  of  many 
things  here."  So,  too,  after  the  first  hard  months,  Winthrop 
wrote  to  his  wife  in  still  nobler  strain, 

"  I  do  hope  our  days  of  affliction  will  soon  have  an  end  .  .  .  Tet  we 
may  not  look  for  great  things  here  .  .  .  [But]  we  here  enjoy  God  and 
Jesus  Christ.  I  thank  God,  I  like  so  well  to  be  here  as  I  do  not  repent 
my  coming ;  and  if  I  were  to  come  again,  I  would  not  have  altered  my 
course  though  I  had  forseen  all  these  afflictions." 

82.  Life  in  the  Colony.  —  After  the  first  winter  the  colony 
was  never  in  danger  of  absolute  ruin ;  but  the  settlers  long 
suffered  more  than  the  common  hardships  of  a  frontier.  They 
did  not  take  naturally  to  pioneer  life  as  our  later  backwoods 
men  did.  They  had  no  love  for  the  wilderness,  nor  could 
they  adapt  themselves  readily  to  its  new  requirements.  But 
they  had  soberly  and  prayerfully  committed  life,  family,  and 

1  "  Considerations  for  J.  W."  in  Source  Book,  No.  59. 


74  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  COLONY  t§  82 

fortune  to  a  daring  experiment,  and,  like  the  Pilgrims,  they 
too  met  disaster  "  with  answerable  courages." 

Men  who  had  left  stately  ancestral  manor  houses  took  up  life 
calmly  in  rudely  built  log  cabins,  and  never  looked  backward. 
Famous  ministers,  who  came  from  the  loveliest  parish  churches 
in  peaceful  England,  preached  and  gave  the  communion, 
and  married,  baptized,  and  buried,  in  bleak,  barn-like  "  meet 
ing-houses,"  where  each  male  worshiper  brought  his  musket. 
A  pitiable  proportion  of  the  babies  died,  year  by  year,  in  the 
harsh  climate  and  draughty  houses,  and  a  shocking  number 
of  brave,  uncomplaining,  overburdened  women  "but  took  New 
England  on  the  way  to  Heaven." 

Sparks  from  the  mud-plastered  fireplaces  and  chimneys  set 
many  a  fire.  Winthrop's  "  Journal "  speaks  repeatedly  of 
such  loss  —  home,  barn,  hay,  and  stock,  often  in  the  dead  of 
a  winter  night ;  and  Captain  John  Smith  chances  to  mention 
that  at  Plymouth  in  the  third  winter  seven  of  the  thirty-two 
homes  burned  down.  Wolves  killed  the  calves  of  this  or  that 
settler,  —  a  serious  disaster  when  most  stock  had  still  to  be 
brought  from  England.  Men,  and  sometimes  women,  were 
lost  in  short  trips  through  the  woods,  and  found  frozen  to 
death.  Inexperienced  fishermen  were  caught  by  storms  and 
swept  away  to  sea. 

Amid  all  this,  the  men  of  the  gentry  class  kept  up  as  much 
as  they  could  of  the  old  English  stateliness.  They  trod  briar- 
tangled  forest  paths,  clad  in  ruffles,  silk  hose,  long  cloak,  and 
cocked  hat,  and  solemnly  exchanged  garments,  in  token  of 
friendship,  with  painted  savages  who  now  and  then  stalked 
haughtily  into  the  villages  to  dine  with  the  chief  men. 

Slowly,  too,  the  colony  worked  its  way  to  a  rude  comfort. 
In  1670  a  Boston  schoolmaster,  Benjamin  Thompson,  pictures 
for  us  how  — 

' '  the  dainty  Indian  maize 
Was  eat  with  clam  shells  out  of  wooden  trays, 
Under  thatched  huts  without  the  cry  of  rent, 
And  the  best  sauce  to  eveiy  dish  —  Content." 


83] 


DAILY  LIFE  AND  WORK 


75 


83.  Kinds  of  Work.  — Every  free  man  had  his  plot  of  ground, 
and  the  "  gentlemen  "  soon  tried  —  not  very  successfully  — 
to  farm  large  plantations  with  indentured  servants.  The 
stony  soil  forced  the  settlers  at  once  to  take  up  other  work 
also.  Each  family  raised  a  few  pigs,  to  supply  the  pork- 
barrel —  and  the  straying  and 
trespasses  of  these  unruly  brutes 
were  an  incessant  source  of  annoy 
ance  and  even  of  dissension.  As 
soon  as  possible,  men  began  also 
to  breed  cattle.  The  fisheries  fur 
nished  some  profitable  export  to 
England,  to  help  pay  for  European 
supplies  ;  and  from  the  woods  that 
reached  to  their  doors,  the  settlers 
fashioned  staves  and  clapboards 
both  for  home  use  and  for  export. 
Mills  to  grind  grain  appeared  here 
and  there,  where  streams  provided 
water  power.  And,  in  the  second 
year,  New  England's  famous  ship 
building  and  coasting  trade  began, 
when  Winthrop  launched  Tlie 
Blessing  of  the  Bay  —  a  small 
schooner,  which  traded  for  furs 
with  the  Indians  and  with  English 
settlements  along  the  coast,  from 
the  Kennebec  to  the  Connecticut. 
Very  early  some  primitive  "iron 
works  "  began  to  extract  iron  from 

the  easily  worked  "  bog "  deposits,  and  to  "  cast "  simple  im 
plements.  In  1646  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  gave  a 
patent  to  Joseph  Jenks  for  certain  improvements  on  the  scythe 
which  gave  that  tool  its  modern  form.  Brick  kilns  were 
among  the  early  industries.  The  first  sawmill  did  not  appear 
until  1663  —  at  Salmon  Falls  in  New  Hampshire.  Soon  at 


A  KETTLE,  now  in  the  Lynn 
Library,  said  to  be  the  first 
casting  made  [in  America  —  at 
the  Lynn  (Saugus)  Iron  Works 
in  1642.  Note  the  graceful 
lines.  In  1648  the  Lynn  Iron 
Furnace  turned  out  eight  tons 
a  week.  But  the  local  deposits 
of  bog  iron  were  soon  ex 
hausted. 


76  MASSACHUSETTS  TO   1660  [§84 

many  points  such  mills  were  turning  the  forest  about  them 
into  rough  lumber  for  export  to  England,  while,  at  clearings 
remote  from  water  power,  the  logs  were  burned  into  potash  or 
pearl  ash.  Potash  in  that  day  was  indispensable  in  manufac 
turing  'woolen  goods  and  glass  and  in  making  soap ;  and  all 
through  the  colonial  period  large  amounts  were  sent  to  Europe. 
84.  For  a  time,  there  was  danger  that  England  might  interfere 
with  the  Massachusetts  experiment.  The  colony's  land,  which 


GRANT  OF  NORTHEAST  PART  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  TO  ROBERT,  SON  OF 
SIR  FERNANDO  GORGES,  DECEMBER  30,  1622.  From  the  Massachusetts 
State  Archives. 

had  been  bought  from  the  New  England  Council  in  1628,  was 
part  of  a  tract  granted  earlier  by  that  body  to  Gorges  (§  58). 
Probably  the  trouble  came  merely  from  the  ignorance  of  Ameri 
can  geography.  The  Massachusetts  charter  of  1629  (from  the 
King)  strengthened  the  colony's  title  ;  and  in  1631  the  colonial 
government  arrested  two  of  Gorges'  agents,  and,  after  severe 
handling,  shipped  them  back  to  England. 

Gorges  finally  got  the  matter  before  the  King's  Council, 
and  that  body  ordered  Cradock  (§  79),  governor  of  the  original 
Massachusetts  Company,  to  produce  the  charter  and  explain  the 


§  86]  DANGER  FROM  ENGLAND  77 

acts  of  the  colonial  government.  When  it  was  discovered  that 
the  charter  was  in  America,  a  series  of  peremptory  demands 
were  sent  to  the  authorities  there  for  its  return,  and  legal 
processes  were  begun  in  the  English  courts  to  overthrow  it. 
Meantime,  in  1635,  the  New  England  Council  surrendered  its 
charter,  and  Charles  appointed  Gorges  "  governor  general "  over 
all  New  England.  Gorges  began  to  build  a  ship  and  to  get  to 
gether  troops. 

85.  The    leaders    in    the    colony    did    not    weaken.      After 
consulting   with   the   ministers,   it  was   agreed,    "  that,   if  a 
general  governor  were  sent,  we  ought  not  to  accept  him,  but 
defend  our  lawful  possessions  (if  we  are  able) ;  otherwise,  to 
avoid  or  protract"     At  its  next  meeting  the   General   Court 
voted  a  tax  of  £600  (many  times  larger  than  had  before  been 
known  in  the  colony),  and  began  a  series  of  fortifications,  not 
on  the  frontier  against  the  Indians,  but  on  the  coast  to  resist 
an  English  ship.     Bullets  were  made  legal  tender  in  place  of 
small  coin ;  and  a  committee  was  appointed  "  to  manage  any 
war  that  may  befall,"  with  power  to  establish  martial  law. 
No  one  thought  of  sending  back  the  charter.     Quaint  excuses 
were  sent  in  plenty  ;  and,  when  these  wore  thin,  the  royal 
orders  were  quietly  ignored,  and,  at  last,  openly  defied. 

86.  This  policy   of   "protracting"  won.      Gorges'  ship    was 
ruined  by  an  accident  in  launching,  and  he  could  not  get  money 
to  build  another  or  to  keep  his  troops  together.    The  King,  econ 
omizing  rigidly,  in  the  midst  of  the  "  ship-money "  troubles, 
would  give  commissions,  but  no  gold.     The  English  courts  did 
finally  declare  the  charter  void  (1638)  ;  but  the  ship  that  brought 
word  of  this  brought  news  also  of  the  rising  of  the  Scots,  and 
the  colony  "  thought  it  safe "  bluntly  to  refuse  obedience  to  the 
"  strict  order  "  for  the  surrender  of  the  document,  even  hinting 
rebellion  (Source  Book,  No.  76).     In  England,  matters  moved 
rapidly  to  the  Civil  War,  and  Massachusetts  was  left  untroubled 
to  work  out  her  experiment.     After  the  Restoration  in  England, 
the  legal  authorities  there  decided  that,  since  the  charter  had  not 
actually  been  surrendered,  the  process  against  it  was  ineffective. 


CHAPTER  X 

MASSACHUSETTS  BAY:   ARISTOCRACY  VS.   DEMOCRACY 

87.   Early    Massachusetts  was    predominantly  aristocratic  in 
politics.     The  charter  provided  that  all  important  matters  of 


THE  CRADOCK  HOUSE  (1636)  AT  MEDFOBD,  MASS.  This  is  the  oldest  brick 
house  in  the  United  States.  With  the  exception  of  the  porch  it  is  in  the 
same  condition  as  in  colonial  times.  Though  Governor  Cradock  (§  84) 
never  came  to  America,  he  did  try  for  a  time  to  till  some  large  grants  of 
land  there  by  bands  of  indentured  servants.  One  such  grant  was  at  Med- 
ford.  These  grants  were  made  to  him  by  the  colony  in  recognition  of  his 
services  in  England. 

government  should  be  settled  by  the  stockholders  ("freemen") 
in  four  "General  Courts"  each  year.  But  only  some  twelve 
freemen  of  the  corporation  had  come  to  America.  These  were 
all  of  the  gentry  class,  —  men  of  strong  character  and,  most  ot 

78 


§  89]  ARISTOCRACY  VS.   DEMOCRACY  79 

them,  of  prudent  judgment.  Before  leaving  England,  they 
had  all  been  made  magistrates  (governor,  deputy  governor,  and 
"  Assistants  ").  Even  without  such  office,  and  merely  as  free 
men,  the  twelve  had  sole  authority  to  rule  the  two  thousand 
settlers  and  to  make  laws  for  them  ;  and  the  little  oligarchy 
began  at  once  to  use  this  tremendous  power.  The  first  meeting 
of  Assistants  in  America  fixed  the  wage  of  laborers,  forbidding 
a  carpenter  or  mason  to  take  more  than  two  shillings  a  day. 

88.  From  the  first  a  democratic  movement  challenged  this  oli 
garchic  government.     The    first   General   Court    was   held   in 
October,  1630.     By  death  and  removal,  the  twelve  possessors 
of  power  had  shrunk  to  eight.     These  eight  gentlemen  found 
themselves  confronted  by  a  gathering  of  one  hundred  and  nine 
sturdy  settlers  asking  to  be  admitted  freemen.      This  was  a 
united  demand  for  citizenship,  by  nearly  all  the  heads  of  fami 
lies  above  the  station  of  unskilled  laborers.       To  refuse  the 
request  was  to  risk  the  wholesale  removal  of  dissatisfied  colonists 
either  to  Maine,  ivhere  Gorges  would  welcome  them,  or  to  Plym 
outh;  to  grant  it  was  to  endanger  the  peculiar  Puritan  common 
wealth  at  which  the  leaders  aimed,  and  to  introduce  more  democracy 
than  they  believed  safe. 

89.  In  this  dilemma,  the  shrewd  leaders  tried  to  give  the  shadow 
and  keep  the  substance.     They  postponed  action  on  the  applica 
tion  until  the  next  spring.    Meantime  they  passed  two  laws  — in 
violation  of  the  charter  :  first  (October,  1630),  that  the  Assistants, 
instead  of  the  whole  body  of  freemen,  should  make  laws  and  choose 
the  governor;  and  second  (May,  1631),  that  the  Assistants  should 
hold  office  during  good  behavior,  instead  of  all  going  out  of  office 
at  the  end  of  a  year  as  the  charter  ordered.     Then  they  ad 
mitted  116  new  freemen,  having  left  them  no  power  except 
that  of  electing  new  Assistants  "  when  these  are  to  be  chosen." 

The  applicants,  in  their  anxiety  to  get  into  the  body  politic, 
agreed  for  a  time  to  these  usurpations.  Indeed  they  did  not 
know  what  their  rights  should  be.  The  charter  was  locked  in 
Winthrop's'  chest,  and  only  the  magistrates  had  read  it  or 
heard  it.  For  a  year  more,  that  little  body,  now  shrunken  to 


80 


MASSACHUSETTS  TO   1660 


[§90 


seven  or  eight,  continued  to  rule  the  colony,  admitting  a  few 
new  freemen,  now  and  then,  to  a  shadowy  citizenship. 

90.  The  chief  founders  of  New  England  had  a  very  real  dread  of 
democracy.  John  Cotton,  the  greatest  of  the  clerical  leaders,  wrote:  — 

"  Democracy  I  do  not  conceive  that  God  did  ever  ordain  as  a  fit  gov 
ernment  for  either  church  or  commonwealth.  If  the  people  be  governors, 
who  shall  be  governed  ?  As  for  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  they  are  both 
clearly  approved  and  directed  in  the  Scriptures  .  .  .  ." 

And  the  great  Winthrop  always  refers  to  democracy  with  aversion.    He 
asserts  that  it  has  "  no  warrant  in  Scripture,"  and  that  "  among  nations 

it  has  always  been  accounted  the 
meanest  and  worst  of  all  forms 
of  government."  At  best,  Win 
throp  and  his  friends  believed  in 
what  they  called  "a  mixt  aris 
tocracy":  The  people  (above  the 
condition  of  day  laborers}  might 
choose  their  rulers  —  provided  they 
chose  from  still  more  select  classes ; 
but  the  rulers  so  chosen  were  to 
possess  practically  absolute  power, 
owning  their  offices  as  an  ordinary 
man  owned  his  farm.1 

Calvin,  the  master  of  Puritan 
political  thought,  teaches  that  to 
resist  even  a  bad  magistrate  is  "  to 
resist  God  "  (Source  Book,  No.  61) . 
His  language  is  followed  closely  by 
Winthrop.  In  1639,  after  the 
people  in  Massachusetts  had  se 
cured  a  little  power,  the  magistrates  tricked  them  out  of  most  of  it  for 
a  while  by  a  law  decreasing  the  number  of  deputies,  so  that  they  should 
not  outvote  the  aristocratic  magistrates  in  the  Court.  Some  of  the 
people  petitioned  modestly  for  the  repeal  of  this  law.  Winthrop  looked 
upon  the  petition  as  "  tending  to  sedition."  Said  he,  "When  the  people 
have  chosen  men,  to  be  their  rulers,  now  to  combine  together  ...  in  a  pub 
lic  petition  to  have  an  order  repealed  .  .  .  savors  of  resisting  an  ordi 
nance  of  God.  For  the  people,  having  deputed  others,  have  no  power 


JOHN  COTTON.  From  the  engraving, 
after  a  portrait,  in  Drake's  History 
and  Antiquities  of  Boston. 


Cf.  Cotton's  sermon,  §  92. 


§  91]  THE   WATERTOWN  PROTEST  81 

to  make  or  alter  laws  themselves,  but  are  to  be  subject. " 1  The  great 
founders  of  America  were  far  from  believing  in  government  "  of  the 
people  and  by  the  people." 

91.  The  first  effective  protest  against  oligarchic  usurpation 
came,  after  good  English  precedent,  upon  a  matter  of  taxation. 
This  event  is  called  the  Watertown  Protest. 

In  February,  1632,  the  Assistants  voted  a  tax  for  fortifica 
tions.  Watertown  was  called  upon  to  pay  eight  pounds. 
The  Watertown  minister  then  called  the  people  together  and 
secured  a  resolution  "  that  it  was  not  safe  to  pay  moneys  after  that 
sort,  for  fear  of  bringing  themselves  and  posterity  into  bondage." 
Governor  Winthrop  at  once  summoned  the  men  of  Water- 
town  before  him  at  Boston  as  culprits,  rebuked  them  for  their 
"  error,"  and  so  overawed  them  that  they  "  made  a  retraction  and 
submission  .  .  .  and  so  their  offence  was  pardoned."  Probably, 
however,  on  the  walk  back  to  Watertown  through  the  winter 
night,  the  "  error  "  revived.  Certainly,  during  the  next  months, 
there  was  secret  democratic  plotting  and  sending  to  and  fro 
among  the  towns  of  which  we  have  no  record.2  At  all  events,  a 
week  before  the  next  General  Court  met  in  May,  Winthrop 
warned  the  Assistants  "  that  he  had  heard  the  people  intended 
...  to  desire  [vote]  that  the  Assistants  might  be  chosen  anew 
every  year,  and  that  the  governor  might  be  chosen  by  the  whole 
court,  and  not  by  the  Assistants  only."  (These  were  charter 
provisions,  of  which  the  freemen  must  have  heard  some  rumor.) 
"  Upon  this,"  adds  Winthrop's  "  Journal,"  "  Mr.  Ludlow  [an 
Assistant]  grew  into  a  passion  and  said  that  then  we  should  have 
no  government,  but  there  would  be  an  interim  wherein  every  man 
might  do  what  he  pleased"  In  spite  of  such  silly  passion,  when 
the  General  Court  met,  the  freemen  calmly  took  back  into  their 


1  The  quotations  from  Winthrop  come  from  his  History  of  New  England. 
This  has  been  printed  only  with  modernized   spelling.    When  a  Winthrop 
quotation  is  given  with  antique  spelling,  it  comes  from  his  Letters. 

2  Our  information  comes  almost  wholly  from  the  brief  "  Colonial  Records  " 
and  from  Winthrop.    The  democrats  never  wrote  their  story,  and  many  im 
portant  steps  have  no  history. 


82  MASSACHUSETTS  TO   1660  [§  92 

own  hands  the  annual  election  of  governor  and  of  Assistants. 
Then  they  went  further,  &nd  sanctioned  the  Watertown  protest 
by  decreeing  that  each  town  should  choose  two  representatives  to 
act  with  the  magistrates  in  matters  of  taxation. 

92.  This  was   not  yet  representative  government.     The  new 
deputies  acted  in  taxation  only:  the  magistrates  kept  their 
usurped  power  to  make  laws. 

True,  the  magistrates  now  had  to  come  up  for  reelection  each 
year,  but  this  was  little  more  than  a  polite  form.  No  chance 
was  given,  for  some  years,  to  nominate  two  or  three  candidates 
for  a  position,  and  then  to  choose  between  them.  The  Secre 
tary  of  the  Assistants  made  nominations  —  in  some  such  form 
as,  —  "Mr.  Ludlow's  term  as  Assistant  has  expired;  will  you 
have  him  to  be  an  Assistant  again  ?  "  On  this  sort  of  nomina 
tion  the  people  had  to  vote  Yes  or  No,  by  erection  of  hands. 
Unless  they  first  rejected  an  old  officer,  there  was  no  chance 
to  elect  a  new  one. 

93.  In  spite  of  such  drawbacks,  the  reform  of  1632  was  a 
democratic  advance.     Two  years  later,  came  the  second  step, 
the  peaceful  revolution  of  1634. 

Tliis  movement  began  as  a  protest  against  "  special  privilege." 
The  Assistants  had  made  laws  to  favor  their  own  class  —  trying 
repeatedly  to  keep  wages  down  to  the  old  level  of  England, 
and  ordering  that  swine  found  in  grain  fields  might  be  killed. 

Winthrop  speaks  often  of  the  high  cost  of  food  and  other  necessities, 
as  compared  with  English  prices  ;  but  he  was  honestly  dismayed  that  car 
penters  should  ask  more  than  the  old  English  wage.  Indeed  he  puts  the 
cart  before  the  horse,  and  blames  the  higher  cost  of  living  upon  the  rise 
in  wages.  As  to  the  swine  law,  —  the  poor  man  wanted  his  pig  to  find 
part  of  its  living  in  the  woods,  but  the  rich  men  were  not  willing  to  fence 
their  large  fields.  This  matter  caused  harder  feeling  even  than  the  wage 
laws. 

The  common  freemen  determined  to  stop  some  of  this  "  class 
legislation."  In  April,  1634,  Governor  Winthrop  sent  out  the 
usual  notice  calling  all  freemen  to  a  General  Court  in  May. 
Soon  after,  on  a  given  day,  two  men  from  each  of  the  eight 


§  93]  REPRESENTATIVE   GOVERNMENT  S3 

towns  (§  80)  met  at  Boston.  How  the  meeting  was  arranged 
and  the  "  committees  "  chosen,  we  have  no  record ;  but  again 
there  must  have  been  much  democratic  planning,  and  many  a 
journey  through  the  forest,  to  secure  this  "  first  political  con 
vention  in  America." 

The  "  convention  "  asked  to  see  the  charter.  After  reading 
it,  they  called  Winthrop's  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  making 
of  laws  belonged  properly  to  the  whole  body  of  freemen  (now 
some  200),  instead  of  to  the  nine  Assistants.  Winthrop  told 
them  loftily  that  the  freemen  did  not  have  men  among  them 
"  qualified  for  such  a  business."  He  suggested,  however,  that 
perhaps  they  might  once  a  year  choose  a  committee  to  make 
suggestions  to  the  Assistants. 

The  good  governor  felt  sure  —  as  his  "Journal"  shows  — 
that  this  condescension  had  quieted  the  trouble.  But  when  the 
General  Court  met  (May  14),  three  deputies  appeared  from  each 
of  the  eight  towns,  to  sit  with  the  Assistants,  not  merely  to  sug 
gest  laws,  but  to  make  them.  Representative  government  had 
begun. 

The  aristocrats  had  had  warning  that  their  power  was  in 
danger,  and  they  put  forward  their  leading  clerical  champion. 
John  Cotton  preached  the  usual  sermon  to  open  the  Court, — 

"  and  delivered  this  doctrine,  that  a  magistrate  ought  not  to  be  turned 
into  the  condition  of  a  private  man  without  just  cause  [and  after  a  formal 
trial] ,  no  more  than  the  magistrate  may  not  turn  a  private  man  out  of  his 
freehold,  etc.,  without  like  public  trial." 

This  was  a  claim  that  public  office  was  private  aristocratic 
property.1  The  answer  of  the  freemen  was  to  demand  a  ballot, 
instead  of  the  usual  "  erection  of  hands,"  in  choosing  a  governor. 
Then  they  dropped  Winthrop  from  the  office  he  had  held  for 
four  years,2  and  fined  some  of  the  Assistants  for  illegal  abuse 

1  At  another  time  Winthrop  tells,  with  approval,  how  Cotton  "  showed  from 
the  Word  of  God  that  the  magistracy  ought  to  be  for  life." 

2  The  aristocratic  doctrine  of  Cotton  was  further  rebuked  by  the  election  of 
a  new  governor  for  each  of  the  two  following  years.     Then,  in  a  period  of 
great  trouble,  the  trusted  Winthrop  was  chosen  again,  and  kept  in  office  by 
annual  elections,  except  for  five  years,  until  his  death  in  1649. 


84  MASSACHUSETTS  TO   1660  [§  94 

of  power.  They  also  ordered  jury  trial  for  all  important 
criminal  cases,  and  admitted  81  new  freemen  whom  the  Assist 
ants  the  day  before  had  refused  to  admit. 

TJie  Court  then  made  the  revolution  permanent.  It  decreed 
that  every  General  Court  in  future  should  consist  (like  this  one) 
of  deputies  chosen  by  the  several  towns  and  of  the  governor  and 
Assistants.  Only  such  Courts  could  admit  freemen,  lay  taxes, 
or  make  laws.  The  May  Court  each  year  was  also  to  be  a  Court 
of  Elections.  At  the  opening  of  this  .Court,  all  freemen  might  be 
present,  to  choose  governor  and  Assistants  ;  but  after  the  elec 
tion  all  but  deputies  and  magistrates  had  to  withdraw. 

For  the  most  part,  the  old  rulers  took  these  changes  in  good 
part,  quite  in  English  temper ;  and  the  generous  Winthrop, 
after  recording  his  defeat,  adds  magnanimously,  — "  This 
Court  made  many  good  orders.'7 

Massachusetts  had  now  grown  from  a  narrow  oligarchy  into  a 
representative  aristocracy.  It  was  still  far  short  of  a  democracy. 

94.  There  was  even  more  aristocracy  in  society  than  in  poli 
tics.  The  people  were  divided  into  five  distinct  classes  :  — 

gentlemen,  who  alone  had  a  right  to  the  title  Master  (Mr.)  ; 

skilled  artisans  and  freeholders,  the  backbone  of  the  colony, 
usually  addressed  as  "  Goodman  Brown "  or  "  Goodman 
Jones " ; 

unskilled  laborers,  for  whose  names  no  handle  was  needed, 
and  for  whom  indeed  the  surname  was  not  often  used ; 

servants,  who  usually  passed  finally  into  the  class  of  artisans 
or  laborers ; 

slaves,  of  whom  there  were  soon  a  small  number,  both  Negro 
and  Indian. 

Gentlemen  were  set  apart  from  the  lower  orders  almost  as 
distinctly  as  Lords  in  England  were  from  gentlemen.  In  early 
Massachusetts,  one  family  out  of  fourteen  belonged  to  this 
gentry  aristocracy.  For  ordinary  "  people  "  to  show  subordi 
nation  to  these  social  superiors  was  about  as  essential  as  to 
obey  written  law.  And  the  law  expressly  gave  some  privileges 
to  the  aristocracy. 


95] 


ARISTOCRACY  VS.   DEMOCRACY 


85 


For  instance,  in  1631,  Mr.  Josias  Plaistowe  was  convicted  of  stealing 
corn  from  the  Indians.  His  servants  —  who  had  assisted,  under  orders 
—  were  condemned  to  be  flogged ;  but  the  court  merely  fined  Plaistowe 
and  ordered  that  thenceforward  he  should  be  called  "  by  the  name  of 
Josias,  and  not  Mr.,  as  former-lie."  This  was  severe  punishment,  equiv 
alent  to  degrading  an  officer  to  the  ranks.  For  another  offense,  Josias 
would  no  doubt  be  whipped,  like  an  ordinary  man.  The  aristocracy 
were  always  exempt  from  corporal  punishment  by  custom ;  and  in  1641 


STANDISH  HOUSE,  DUXBURY,  MASSACHUSETTS.     A  typical  colonial  resi 
dence,  built  in  1666  (date  on  chimney)  by  a  son  of  Miles  Standish. 

this  exemption  was  put  into  written  law.1  Ten  years  later  the  court 
declared  its  "  detestation  "  of  the  wearing  of  gold  lace  or  silk  by  men  or 
women  "  of  mean  condition,"  reserving  such  apparel  for  gentlemen. 

95.  The  franchise,  too,  was  far  from  democratic.  The  voting 
"  freemen  "  were  a  small  part  of  the  free  men.  The  General 
Court  of  1631,  which  admitted  the  first  new  freemen  (§  88), 
ordered  that  thereafter  only  church  members  should  be  made 


1  Body  of  Liberties,  43;  in  No.  78  of  Source  Book.  The  student  may  com 
pare  the  class  distinctions  in  England,  as  described  by  William  Harrison  in 
1578,  and  those  portrayed  for  Massachusetts  in  1635  in  Cotton's  "  Answer"  to 
Lord  Say  (Source  Book,  Nos.  1  and  75). 


86  MASSACHUSETTS  TO    1660  [§  95 

freemen.  This  did  not  mean  that  all  church  members  could 
vote  :  it  meant  that  voters  were  to  be  selected  only  from  church 
members.  Unskilled  laborers,  servants,  even  slaves,  were  ad 
mitted  to  the  churches,  but  never  to  full  citizenship.  Only 
about  one  man  out  of  four  could  vote  at  any  time  in  colonial 
Massachusetts. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  The  Source  Book  gives  much  material  for 
chapters  ix  and  x  in  Nos.  51-61,  63-65,  67,  75-77.  For  suggestions  for 
the  use  of  that  book,  see  the  close'  of  chapter  v. 

Secondary  material  should  include  Channing's  History  of  the  United 
States,  I,  322-437,  and  Becker's  Beginnings  of  the  American  People, 
86-89.  Twichell's  John  Winthrop  is  an  excellent  short  biography  ;  and 
much  interesting  material  will  be  found  in  Alice  Morse  Earle's  Customs 
and  Fashions  in  Old  New  England. 

EXERCISE.  —  Who  chose  the  governor  of  Massachusetts  colony  in 
1629  ?  in  1631  ?  in  1635  ?  Who  was  the  first  governor  of  the  colony  ? 
of  the  Company  ?  When  was  representative  government  established  in 
Massachusetts  ?  After  that  event,  why  were  the  deputies  more  demo 
cratic  than  the  Assistants  ?  (Four  or  five  distinct  reasons.)  How  did 
Cotton's  doctrine  that  it  was  wrong  not  to  reeled  a  magistrate  year  after 
year  differ  from  our  modern  idea  of  "civil  service  reform"  ?  A  man 
arrives  in  Boston  in  1635  :  under  what  conditions  and  by  what  steps  can 
he  become  a  "  freeman  "  ? 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  POLITICAL   MACHINERY 

96.  The  Court  of  1634  voted  by  ballot  when  it  unseated 
Winthrop  (§  92).  We  know  this  fact  from  the  note,  "  chosen 
by  papers/'  in  the  margin  of  Winthrop's  manuscript,  opposite 
the  name  of  the  new  governor.  "  Papers "  were  used,  un 
doubtedly,  as  an  aid  to  the  democratic  faction.  A  secret  vote 
protected  the  voters  from  being  overawed  by  Winthrop's  in 
fluential  friends. 

This  was  the  first  political  use  of  the  ballot  in  America, 
though  "  papers  "  had  been  used  once  before  in  a  church  elec 
tion  at  Salem.  This  method  of  voting,  however,  was  common 
in  boroughs  and  in  large  business  corporations  in  England1 
(though  not  in  parliamentary  elections).  One  of  these  busi 
ness  corporations  had  now  become  a  political  corporation  in 
Massachusetts ;  and  nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  for  it 
to  make  use  of  the  ballot  as  soon  as  serious  differences  of 
opinion  arose.  After  1635,  law  required  the  Court  of  Elections 
to  use  papers  in  choosing  governor  and  Assistants  (Source  Book, 
Nos.  67,  70). 

For  governor  each  voter  wrote  upon  his  ballot  the  name  of  his  choice, 
or  found  some  one  to  write  it  for  him.  But  for  some  time  the  Assistants 
were  chosen  one  at  a  time  much  in  the  old  way.  The  Secretary  nomi 
nated  one  of  those  already  in  office  (§  91).  Then  the  people  deposited 
their  ballots.  Those  in  favor  of  the  nomination  marked  their  papers  with 
a  scroll  or  cross  —  which  did  not  call  for  ability  to  write  ;  those  opposed 
voted  blank  ballots.2  If  the  candidate  were  defeated,  another  nomination 
was  made  for  his  place,  to  be  accepted  or  rejected  in  like  manner.  There 

1  Rules  of  the  London  Company,  in  Source  Book,  No.  23.    Cf.  §  42. 

2  In  1643,  the  law  ordered  that  kernels  of  corn  should  be  used  instead 
of  paper  ballots,  —  white    kernels    to    signify  election ;    and   other   colors, 
rejection. 

87 


88  MASSACHUSETTS  TO  leeo  [§  07 

was  no  opportunity,  so  far,  to  choose  between  two  candidates,  and  the 
man  in  office  still  had  a  tremendous  advantage. 

97.  The   next    step    was    to    introduce    the    ballot    in    town 
elections.     This  was  done  first  at  Boston,  in  December,  1634, 
when  a  committee  was  chosen  to  divide  public  lands  among 
the  inhabitants.     The  people,  says  Winthrop,  "  feared  that  the 
richer  men  would  give  the  poorer  sort  no  great  proportions  of 
land,"  and  this  time,  too,  they  used  the  ballot  to  leave  out  the 
aristocratic  element  (Source  Book,  No.  71). 

98.  In  all  of  these  cases  the  advantage  of  the  ballot  lay  in  its 
secrecy.     But  there  is  another  way  in  which  the  ballot  aids 
democracy.     Its  use  makes  it  possible  for  men  to  vote  in  their 
own  towns,  in  small  election  districts  instead  of  being  required 
all  to  come  to  one  central  point.     Such  an  arrangement  per 
mits  more  voters  to  take  part  in  elections. 

Soon  the  men  of  Massachusetts  used  the  ballot  for  this  pur 
pose.  In  March,  1636,  the  General  Court  ordered  that  the 
freemen  of  six  new  outlying  towns  might  send  "  proxies  " 
to  the  next  Court  of  Elections.  During  the  next  December, 
the  governor  resigned,1  and  a  special  election  was  called. 
"  In  regard  of  the  season,'7  any  freemen  were  authorized  "  to 
send  their  votes  in  writing."  And  the  next  spring  (March, 
1637)  this  method  of  voting  for  governor  and  Assistants  was 
made  permanent.  Out  of  the  use  of  proxies  a  true  ballot  in 
the  several  towns  had  developed.2 

99.  When  men  came  to  elect  the  governor  and  Assistants  in 
the  several  towns,  as  just  described,  instead  of  all  coming  to 
Boston  for  the  purpose,  it  was  necessary,  of  course,  to  know  in 
advance  from  what  names  the  choice  was  to  be  made.     The 
old  system  of  nomination  broke  down ;  and  the  colony  began 
to  make  use,  sometimes  of  "primary  elections,"  sometimes  of 
"  nominating   conventions "   made  up    of   delegates    from   the 
various  towns. 

1  Sir  Harry  Vane,  who  was  about  to  return  to  England. 

2  First  the  ballot  was  given  to  some  voters  for  one  time  ;  then  to  all  voters 
for  one  time  ;  then  to  all  for  all  times. 


§  101]  THE   BALLOT  89 

100.  Judicial  development  kept  pace  with  political  growth.     In 

the  first  summer  in  Massachusetts,  a  man  was  found  dead  under 
suspicious  circumstances.  The  magistrates  appointed  a  body 
of  sworn  men  to  investigate.  This  coroner's  jury  accused  a 
certain  Palmer  of  murder.  Palmer  was  then  tried  by  a  trial 
jury  (petit  jury)  of  twelve  men.  All  this  was  in  accord  with 
custom  in  England.1  No  Massachusetts  law  upon  the  matter 
had  been  passed. 

In  1634,  however,  the  General  Court  did  expressly  establish 
trial  by  jury  (§  92),1  and  a  year  later  it  ordered  that  a  jury  of 
inquest  ("  grand  jury  ") 2  should  meet  twice  a  year,  to  present 
to  the  court  all  offenders  against  law  and  public  welfare. 
Thus  the  first  five  years  saw  the  complete  adoption  of  the 
English  jury  system. 

It  is  said  sometimes — with  much  exaggeration  —  that  in  the  absence 
of  written  law,  the  Puritans  followed  the  Jewish  law.  But  in  this  su 
premely  important  matter  of  legal  machinery,  they  turned  promptly 
not  to  the  Old  Testament  but  to  the  English  Common  Law. 

101.  At  the  General  Court  in  May,  1635,  the  deputies  de 
manded  a  written  code  of  law.     The  magistrates  were  making 
law,  almost  at  will,  in  their  decisions,  after  cases  came  before 
them  (Source  Book,  No.  65) ;  and  "  the  people  thought  their 
condition  very  unsafe,"  says  Winthrop,  "  while  so  much  power 
rested  in  the  discretion  of  the  magistrates." 3 

The  democratic  demand  could  not  very  well  be  openly  de 
nied  ;  but  for  a  time  it  was  evaded  skillfully.  The  Court  ap 
pointed  four  magistrates  to  prepare  a  code  ;  but  this  committee 
failed  to  report.  A  second  committee  of  "gentlemen"  was 
equally  ineffective.  Then,  in  1638,  the  Court  ordered  that  the 
deputies  should  collect  suggestions  from  the  freemen  of  their 
several  towns,  and  present  the  same  in  writing  to  a  new  com 
mittee  made  up  partly  of  deputies. 

1  On  the  origin  of  the  jury  in  England,  see  Modern  World,  §§  173,  174. 

2  The  terms  grand  and  petit  have  reference  to  the  size  of  the  two  kinds  of 
jury  originally  in  England. 

8  Cf .  the  democratic  demand  for  written  law  in  early  Athens  and  Rome  j 
Ancient  World,  §§  139,  364. 


90  THE   BODY  OF  LIBERTIES  [§  102 

Now  matters  began  to  move.  The  suggestions  from  the 
towns  were  reduced  to  form  in  1639,  and  sent  back  to  all  the 
towns  for  further  consideration,  "that  the  freemen  might 
ripen  their  thought,"  and  make  further  suggestion.  The  next 
lot  of  returns  were  referred  to  two  clergymen,  John  Cotton 
and  Nathaniel  Ward.  On  this  basis,  in  1641,  each  of  these 
gentlemen  presented  a  full  code  to  the  General  Court,  and  the 


f* .  <**&• ;~  r«| 

v^^sG*".**^'  ***°*~ 


NUMBER  1  OF  THE  "BODY  OF  LIBERTIES."      The  original  manuscript 
is  now  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 

more  democratic  one,  by  Ward,  was  adopted.  This  famous 
Body  of  Liberties  (Source  Book,  No.  78)  1  marks  splendid  prog 
ress  in  law,  English  or  American. 

102.  The  next  important  fruit  of  the  democratic  movement 
was  the  division  of  the  legislature  into  two  Houses.  For  ten 
years  after  the  "revolution  of  1634"  (§  92),  the  General  Court 
sat  as  one  body.  But  it  was  made  up  of  two  distinct  "  orders." 

The  deputies  were  chosen  each  by  his  own  townsfolk,  and  held  office 
for  only  a  few  days.  Often  they  were  artisans  or  farmers,  and  as  a 
whole  they  leaned  to  democracy.  The  Assistants  continued  to  be  in- 

1  Note  especially  (1)  the  provision  that  no  punishment  should  be  inflicted 
merely  at  the  discretion  of  magistrates  but  only  by  virtue  of  some  express 
law  of  the  colony ;  (2)  prohibition  of  monopolies ;  (3)  right  of  jury  trial  with 
right  of  "challenge";  (4)  the  "Liberties  of  Women"  and  "Liberties  of 
Children." 


§  102]  A  TWO-HOUSE   LEGISLATURE  91 

tensely  aristocratic.  They  had  many  additional  meetings  for  judicial 
business  and  to  aid  the  governor.  They  had  to  know  some  law,  and 
they  served  without  pay.  Only  "gentlemen"  were  qualified  for  the 
office,  or  could  afford  to  hold  it.  More  yet  to  the  point  —  the  hottest 
democrat  did  not  dream  of  selecting  these  "ruling  magistrates"  from 
any  but  the  highest  of  the  gentry  class. 

Naturally,  friction  was  incessant.  At  the  first  clash,  in  the 
summer  Court  of  1634,  the  Assistants  claimed  "a  negative 
voice"  or  veto.  To  grant  this  was  to  give  as  much  voting 


"  MARKS  "  OF  NAHNANACOMOCK  AND  PASSACONAWAY,  affixed  to  a 
covenant  submitting  to  an  order  of  the  General  Court ;  dated  June  12, 
1644.  From  the  Massachusetts  State  Archives. 

power  to  the  aristocratic  minority  as  to  the  democratic  ma 
jority.  But  the  ministers  were  brought  forward  to  argue  for 
the  plan,1  and  finally  it  was  agreed  to. 

During  this  controversy,  a  pamphlet  by  Israel  Stoughton,  of  Dorches 
ter,  attacked  the  claim  of  the  Assistants  —  with  what  Winthrop  calls 
"many  weak  arguments."  The  Assistants  called  Stoughton  before 
them,  forced  him  to  recant,  ordered  his  book  burned,  deprived  him  of  his 
office  (of  deputy),  and  forbade  him  to  hold  any  office  for  three  years! 
The  great  Puritan  leaders  had  no  more  place  for  free  speech  '2  than  for 
the  right  of  petition (§  89). 

1  The  clergy  commonly  sided  with  the  aristocracy  and  were  often  used  in 
this  way  to  bolster  aristocracy.    The  democratic  deputies  were  all  earnest 
church  members,  and  revered  their  ministers. 

2  Thanks  to  English  custom,  debate  in  the  General  Court  was  free.    Stough 
ton  could  have  spoken  his  arguments  there  with  impunity.    But  the  Assist 
ants  denied  the  right  of  a  citizen,  outside  the  legislature,  to  criticize  the 
government.    Winthrop  had  written  a  pamphlet  in  favor  of  the  "  negative 
voice  " ;  but  the  Assistants  saw  no  wrong  in  argument  on  that  side. 


92  MASSACHUSETTS  TO   1660  [§  102 

The  Assistants  had  now  won  much  the  greater  weight  in  the 
legislature.  They  were  a  small  disciplined  body.  They  could 
agree  upon  plans  before  the  Court  met,  and  could  act  as  a  unit 
in  the  meeting,  much  better  than  could  the  deputies.  More 
over,  the  Assistants  monopolized  debate  :  it  was  impossible  for 
individual  deputies  to  confront  men  of  such  social  superiority 
and  such  political  ability.  The  deputies  saw  that  they  would 
gain  dignity  and  influence  if  they  sat  by  themselves ; 1  and,  in 
1644,  the  General  Court  separated  into  two  "Houses."  There 
after,  each  "  order  "  had  its  own  officers  and  committees,  and 
managed  its  own  debates. 

This  was  the  first  two-House  Legislature  in  America.  The 
immediate  occasion  for  the  division  was  a  quaint  three-year 
dispute  over  a  poor  woman's  pig,  which  had  strayed  into  the  pen 
of  a  rich  gentleman  and  had  been  slaughtered.2  But  the  real 
cause  lay  in  the  the  class  jealousy  that  we  have  been  tracing. 
When  Assistant's  and  deputies  could  no  longer  live  in  peace 
under  one  roof,  the  example  of  the  two-House  parliament  in 
England 3  suggested  convenient  escape  from  their  troubles. 

1  Compare  the  like  movement  in  Maryland ;    §  54. 

2 Says  Winthrop,  "There  fell  out  a  great  matter  upon  a  small  occasion." 
Three  law-suits  regarding  this  pig  came  before  the  General  Court.  Each  time 
the  deputies  sided  with  the  poor  woman ;  the  Assistants,  with  the  gentleman. 

3  The  law  of  1644  refers  to  European  experience  as  one  reason  for  the  divi 
sion  (Source  Book,  No.  80).  For  some  years  the  leaders  had  seen  that  the 
change  must  come  (Source  Book,  No.  75) . 


CHAPTER   XII 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  NEW  ENGLAND 

Town  meetings  are  to   liberty  what  primary  schools  are  to  science 

—  TOCQUE  VILLE. 

103.  Most   New   England   towns   in  the  seventeenth  century 
were    merely    agricultural    villages.       Farmers    did    not    live 
scattered  through  the  country,  as  now,  each  on  his  own  farm. 
They  dwelt  together,  English  fashion,  in  villages  of  thirty  or 
a   hundred   or   two  hundred   householders,  with  their   fields 
stretching  off  on  all  sides. 

104.  At  first,  in  Massachusetts,  the  General  Court  appointed 
justices  and  constables  for  each  settlement  and  tried  to  attend 
to   other  local   business.     But  from   the  first,  too,  on  special 
occasions,  the  people  of  a  town  met  to  discuss  matters  of  in 
terest,  —  as  at  the  famous  Watertown  meeting  of  1632.     Such 
gatherings  were  called  by  a  minister  or  other  leading  man,  and 
were  sometimes  held  just  before  the  people  dispersed  from  the 
Thursday  "  sermon "   (the  ancestor  of  our  midweek  "  prayer 
meeting").     The  first  Boston  meeting  that  we  know  of  was 
held  at  such  a  time  —  to  choose  a  committee  to  divide  the 
town  lands  (§  97). 

Then  in  1633  Dorchester  ordered  that  there  should  be  a 
regular  monthly  town  meeting  to  settle  town  matters  (Source 
Book,  No.  66).  Watertown  followed  this  example  the  next 
spring ;  and  soon  each  town,  old  or  new,  fell  into  line.  Each 
town,  too,  chose  a  town  clerk  to  keep  records  of  the  "  by-laws  " 
passed  at  the  meetings,  and  elected  a  committee  ("  the  seven 
men,"  "  the  nine  men,"  "  the  selected  townsmen,"  "  the  Select 


94  MASSACHUSETTS  TO   1660  [§  105 

Men  " 1 )  with  vague  authority  to  manage  town  affairs  between 
the  town  meetings. 

105.  These  governments  by   town   meeting  and   selectmen 
grew  up  out  of  the  needs  of  the  people,  and  out  of  their  desire 
to  manage  their  own  affairs.     Soon  the  General  Court  gave 
legal  sanction  to  the  system.     After  that,  in  theory,  the  towns 
possessed  only  such  authority  as  the  central  government  of  the 
commonwealth  delegated  to  them.2     The  central  legislature  gave 
the  town  its  territory  and  its  name,  and  required  it  to  maintain 
trainband,3  school,  roads,  and  certain  police  arrangements,  and 
it  sometimes  imposed  fines  when  a  town  failed  in  any  of  these 
things  to  come  up  to  the  standard  set  by  law. 

106.  In  actual  practice,  however,  great  independence  was  left 
the  town.     The  town  meeting  appointed  all  local  officers,  —  not 
merely  selectmen  and  clerk,  but  school  trustees,  hog  reeve, 
fence  viewer,  constable,  treasurer,   pound   keeper,   sealer   of 
weights  and  measures,  measurer  of  corn  and  lumber,  overseer 
of  chimneys,  overseer  of  the  village  almshouse ;   and  for  most 
of  these  officers  it  alone  defined  all  the  powers  and  duties.     It 
divided  the  town  lands  among  the  inhabitants,  —  such  a  part 
as  it  chose  to  divide,  —  and  it  fixed  the  size  of  building  lots,  — 
a  quarter-acre,  an  acre,  two  acres,  or  five.     It  passed  ordinances 
regarding  the  remaining  town  fields  and  pastures,  the  keeping 
up  of  fences,  the  running  of  cattle  and  hogs,  the  term  of  the 
school  and  its  support,  the  support  of  the  church,  and  of  the 
town  poor. 

This  town  democracy  had  its  disadvantages.  Action  was  slow, 
and  was  often  hindered  by  ignorance  and  petty  neighborhood 
jealousies.  But  the  best  thing  about  the  town  meeting  was 
the  constant  training  in  politics  it  gave  to  the  mass  of  the 


iThis  term  came  to  be  written  Selectmen,  but  the  New  Englander  still 
pronounces  it  "  Select  Men." 

2  In  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  the  towns  came  into  existence  before 
there  was  any  central  government.  In  these  States,  the  towns  have  always 
felt  a  peculiar  independence. 

8  A  local  militia  with  regular  periods  of  training. 


§  108]  THE   TOWN  MEETING  95 

people.     Thomas  Jeff erson  called  it  "  the  best  school  of  political 
liberty  the  world  ever  saw." 

107.  All  the  people  in  a  town  could  come  to  town  meeting  and 
could  speak  there;1  but  not  all  could  vote.     At  the  base  of 
society  in  every  town  was  a  class  of  "  cottagers/7  or  squatters, 
who  were  permitted  to  live  in  the  place  at  the  town's  pleasure 
only,2  and  who  could  not  acquire  land  there,  nor  claim  any  legal 
right  to  the  use  of  the  town  "  commons,"  for  pasture.     Servants 
whose  term  of  service  was  up,  and  strangers  who  drifted  into 
the  town  as  day  laborers,  usually  passed  at  first  into  this  class. 

The  people  in  a  town  who  held  full  town  citizenship  were  known 
as  "inhabitants."  A  "cottager,"  however  worthy,  or  a  new 
settler  of  even  the  gentry  class,  could  be  "  admitted  inhabitant " 
only  by  vote  of  the  town.  In  practice,  the  "  inhabitants  "  of  a 
town  included  all  its  gentlemen  and  industrious  artisans  and 
freeholders.  That  is,  they  included  all  "  freemen,"  and  many 
others,  who  never  secured  the  colonial  franchise. 

108.  Thus  the  town  government  in  Massachusetts  was  more  dem 
ocratic  than  the  central  government     The  body  of  citizens  was  more 
extensive,  and  the  citizens  acted  directly,  not  through  representatives. 
And  this  town  democracy  touched  the  life  of  the  people  at  more 
points,  and  at  more  vital  ones,  than  did  the  central  government. 

EXERCISE.  —  Study  the  New  England  town  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  83. 

1  Body  of  Liberties  (12),  in  Source  Book,  No.  78. 

2  For  instance,  the  Hartford  Records  contain  a  grant  of  "  lotts  "  to  certain 
"  cottagers,"  "  to  have  onely  at  the  Townes  courtesie,  with  libertie  to  fetch 
wood  and  keepe  swine  or  cowes  on  the  common." 


CHAPTER   XIII 
THE  MASSACHUSETTS  IDEAL  :  ARISTOCRATIC  THEOCRACY 

109.  In  England  the  High-churchmen  had  reproached  the 
Low-churchnien   with   being    secretly  Separatists.     The  Low- 
church  Puritans  repelled  the  charge  indignantly,  and,  to  prove  their 
good  faith,  joined  vehemently  in  denouncing  the  Separatists. 
Thomas  Hooker  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Puritan  clergy. 
Before  he  came  to  America,  while  a  fugitive  in-Holland,  he  was 
called  a  Separatist.     But  he  claimed  to  have  "  an  extreme  aver 
sion  "  to  that  sect,  and  he  wrote,  "  To  separate  from  the  faithful 
assemblies  and  churches  in  England,  as  no  churches,  is  an  error 
in  judgment  and  a  sin  in  practice."     So,  too,  Francis  Higginson 
exclaimed,  as  the  shores  of  England  receded  from  view  (§  75), 

"  We  will  not  say,  as  the  Separatists  are  wont  Jo  say,  Farewell,  Rome  ! 
Farewell,  Babylon  !  But  we  will  say,  Farewell,  dear  England  ;  Farewell, 
the  Church  of  God  in  England,  and  all  Christian  friends  there." l 

110.  But  when  the  Massachusetts  Puritans  reached  the  New 
World  they  found  themselves  more  in  accord  with  the  despised  Sep 
aratists  than  they  had  thought.     Much  of  the  change  seems  to 
have  come  on  the  Atlantic,  —  where  the  eight  or  ten  weeks' 
voyage,  and  the  daily  preaching,  invited  men  to  find  out  just 
where  they  did  stand.     At  all  events,  very  soon  they  did  sepa 
rate  wholly  from  the  English  Church,  refusing  even  to  recognize 
its  ordination  of  clergymen. 

111.  On  the  other  hand,  they  did  not  separate  the  church  from 
the  state,  as  Plymouth  did,  nor  did  they  make  one  congregation 
wholly  independent  of  another  in  matters  of  church  govern- 

1See  also  Source  Book,  No.  60,  and  close  of  Nos.  52  and  62  c. 
96 


§  114]  ARISTOCRATIC  THEOCRACY  97 

merit.     They  wished  to  use  the  state l  to  preserve  their  religion 
and  church  discipline. 

112.  To  keep  this  union  of  state  and  church  they  adopted 
three  distinct  devices:  (1)  they  gave  the  franchise   only  to 
church  members ;    (2)  they  allowed  no  churches  except  those 
approved  by  the  government ;  (3)  they  referred  many  political 
questions  to  the  clergy  assembled  in  synods. 

113.  The  Massachusetts  ideal  was  an  aristocratic  theocracy,  a 
government   by  the   best,  in  accordance  with  the  laiv  of  God. 
The  ministers  were  supposed  to  have  special  ability  to  inter 
pret  that  law.     Nor  were  the  clergy  backward  in   claiming 
political  power.     Winthrop  tells,  with  approval,  how  Cotton 
"  proved  "  from  many  texts  of  Scripture  "  that  the  rulers  of 
the  people  should  consult  with  the  ministers  of  the  churches 
upon  occasion  of  any  weighty  matter,  though  the  case  should 
seem  never  so  dear,  —  as  David  in  the  case  of  Ziklag." 

In  practice,  the  ministers  in  politics  proved  a  bulwark  of 
class  rule.  In  every  controversy  between  aristocracy  and  democ 
racy,  they  found  some  Biblical  passage  which  would  support  the 
aristocracy  (§  §  89, 92, 102).  More  than  once  democratic  progress 
depended  upon  the  appearance  of  a  rare  democratic  champion 
among  the  ministers,  like  Ward  of  Ipswich  (§  101)  or  Hooker  of 
Connecticut  (§  125).  By  1639  the  democracy  had  learned  the 
lesson,  and  managed  sometimes  to  put  forward  democratic 
ministers  to  preach  "  election  sermons  "  (Source  Book,  No.  77). 

114.  The  purpose  of  the  early  Massachusetts  Puritans  (in  their 
own  words)  was  "  to  build  a  City  of  God  on  earth."     They  came 
to  the  wilderness  not  so  much  to  escape  persecution  as  to  find 
a  freer  chance  to  build  as  they  saw  Jit,  where  there  should  be 
none  with  right  to  hinder  them ;  and  they  did  not  mean  that 
intruders  should  mar  their  work. 

This  plan  forbade  toleration.  Religious  freedom  was  no  part 
'of  the  Puritan's  program.  He  never  claimed  that  it  was.  It 

1  Winthrop  declared  that  their  purpose  in  coming  to  America  was  "to  seek 
out  a  place  of  cohabitation  under  a  due  form  of  government  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical." 


98  THE   MASSACHUSETTS  IDEAL  [§115 

was  fundamentally  inconsistent  with  his  program.  The  Puri 
tan  was  trying-  a  lofty  experiment,  for  which  he  sacrificed 
home  and  ease  ;  but  he  could  not  try  it  at  all  without  driving 
out  from  his  "  City  of  the  Lord  "  those  who  differed  with  him 
(Source  Book,  No.  84).  And  so  the  Massachusetts  government 
assumed  power  to  regulate  immigration. 

In  the  first  fall  after  Winthrop's  arrival,  two  "  gentlemen  " 
from  England  came  to  Massachusetts  by  way  of  Plymouth. 
They  were  introduced  by  Miles  Standish ;  "  but,"  says  Win- 
throp,  "having  no  testimony,1  we  would  not  receive  them."2 
In  the  following  March,  the  Assistants  shipped  back  to  Eng 
land  six  men  at  one  time,  without  trial,  merely  upon  the  ground 
that  they  were  "  unmeete  to  inhabit  here " ;  while  for  years 
there  were  occasional  entries  in  the  records  like  the  following : 
"  Mr.  Thomas  Makepeace,  because  of  his  novile  disposition,  is 
informed  that  we  are  weary  of  him,  unless  he  reform " ;  and 
"  John  Smith  is  ordered  to  remove  himself  from  this  jurisdic 
tion  for  divers  dangerous  opinions  which  he  holdeth." 

Such  cases  help  us  to  understand  the  famous  expulsions  of 
Koger  Williams  and  Anne  Hutchinson. 

115.  Roger  Williams  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  and 
scholarly  of  the  great  Puritan  clergy.  He  had  rare  sweetness 
of  temper ;  but,  along  with  it,  a  genius  for  getting  into  bitter 
controversy.  He  was  broad-minded  on  great  questions ;  but 
he  could  quarrel  vehemently  over  fantastic  quibbles.  The 
kindly  Bradford  describes  him  as  possessing  "  many  precious 
parts,  but  very  unsettled  in  judgment.'/ 3 


1  The  Puritans  used  this  word  for  "  evidence  "  of  religious  character. 

2  The  government  was  especially  cautious  because  these  two  were  "  gentle 
men,"  and  so  sure  to  be  influential,  if  taken  into  the  colony.    Probably  they 
were  thought  to  be  Separatists. 

8  Bradford  didn't  like  Williams :  "  I  desire  the  Lord  to  show  him  his  errors 
and  reduce  him  into  the  way  of  truth,  and  give  him  a  settled  judgment  and 
constancy  in  the  same ;  for  I  hope  he  belongs  to  the  Lord."  Eggleston  hits  off 
Williams'  weakness  well  in  saying  that  he  lacked  humor  and  sense  of  propor 
tion,  and  "could  put  the  questions  of  grace  after  meat  and  of  religious  free 
dom  into  the  same  category." 


116] 


AND  RELIGIOUS  PERSECUTION 


99 


Driven  from  England  by  Laud,  Williams  came  to  Massachu 
setts  in  the  supply  ship  in  the  winter  of  1631  (§  80).  He  was 
welcomed  warmly  by  Winthrop  as  "a  godly  minister";  but 
it  was  soon  plain  that  he  had  adopted  the  opinions  of  the 
Separatists.  He  scolded  at  all  who  would  not  utterly  renounce 
fellowship  with  English  churches,  and  he  preached  against 
any  union  of  church  and  state,  holding  that  the  magistrate  had 
no  right  to  punish  for 
Sabbath-breaking  or  for 
other  offenses  against 
"  the  first  table  "  (the  first 
four  of  the  Command 
ments).  Thus  his  wel 
come  at  Boston  quickly 
wore  thin.  He  went  to 
Plymouth  for  a  time,  but 
soon  returned  to  the  larger 
colony  as  the  pastor  of 
Salem.1  Just  at  this  time 
that  town  wanted  more 
lands.  The  court  of  As 
sistants  paid  no  public 
attention  to  the  request, 
but  let  it  be  known  pri 
vately  that,  if  Salem  ex 
pected  the  grant,  it  had 
best  dismiss  Williams.  On  his  part,  Williams  referred  to  the 
other  churches  of  the  colony  as  "  ulcered  and  gangrened," 
and  called  the  clergy  "  false  hirelings." 

116.    An  opportunity  soon  offered  to  get  rid  of  him.    All  land  in 
America,  he  urged,  belonged  to  the  Indians  until  bought  from 


STATUE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS, 
at  Providence. 


*In  the  hard  winter  of  1629  (§  80),  before  Winthrop's  arrival,  the  perishing 
Salem  colony  were  fed,  and  their  sick  cared  for,  by  a  "  relief  expedition  "  from 
Plymouth.  Salem  seems  at  this  time  to  have  received  an  impulse  toward 
Separatism  (or  Congregationalism)  which  it  took  the  later  towns  of  the  Bay 
Colony  many  years,  to  catch  up  with. 


100  RELIGIOUS  PERSECUTION  [§  117 

them.  He  denied  the  title  of  the  colony,  and  said  that  the 
King  had  told  "  a  solemn  lie  "  in  the  charter  in  claiming  right 
to  give  title.  Such  words,  unrebuked,  might  embroil  the  little 
colony  with  the  home  government,  with  which  it  was  already 
in  trouble  enough  (§  84).  The  magistrates  seized  the  excuse, 
and  ordered  Williams  back  to  England. 

On  account  of  the  bitter  winter  season,  the  order  was  sus 
pended  until  spring.  The  magistrates  seem  to  have  understood 
that  Williams  agreed  meantime  not  to  teach  these  troublesome 
doctrines.  He  continued  to  do  so,  however ;  and  an  officer  was 
sent  to  place  him  on  board  ship.  Forewarned  secretly  by  Win- 
throp,  he  escaped  to  the  forest,  and  found  his  way  to  the  Nar- 
ragansett  Indians.  The  next  spring  a  few  adherents  joined 
him :  and  the  little  band  founded  Providence,  the  beginning  of 
the  colony  of  Rhode  Island  (1636). 

117.  Anne  Hutchinson  is  described  by  Winthrop  (who  hated 
her)  as  a  woman  of  "  ready  wit  and  bold  spirit."  She  was  in 
tellectual,  eloquent,  and  enthusiastic.  Her  real  offense  seems 
to  have  been  her  keen  contempt  for  many  of  the  ministers  and 
her  disrespect  toward  the  magistrates ;  but  she  held  religious 
views  somewhat  different  from  the  prevailing  ones.1  She  spoke 
much  of  an  "  inner  light "  ;  and  this  phrase  was  twisted  into  a 
claim  that  she  enjoyed  special  revelations  from  the  Holy  Spirit. 
For  a  time  Boston  supported  her  with  great  unanimity,  but  a 
majority  in  all  the  other  churches  was  rallied  against  her. 

Among  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  adherents  were  the  minister 
Wheelwright,  and  young  Harry  Vane,  governor  at  the  time.  In 
the  winter  of  1637,  Wheelwright  preached  a  sermon  declaiming 
violently  against  the  ministers  of  the  opposing  faction.  For 
this  the  next  General  Court  (in  March)  "  questioned  "  him,  and 
voted  him  "  guilty  of  sedition,"  in  spite  of  a  lengthy  petition 
from  Boston  for  freedom  of  speech. 

1  At  one  time  Winthrop  confessed,  "  Except  men  of  good  understanding,  few 
could  see  where  the  differences  were  ;  and  indeed  they  seemed  so  small  as 
(if  men's  affections  had  not  been  formerly  alienated  .  .  .)  they  might  easily 
have  come  to  a  reconciliation." 


§118] 


ANNE  HUTCHINSON 


101 


The  majority  adopted  also  a  shrewd  maneuver.  To  lessen 
the  influence  of  heretical  Boston,  they  voted  to  hold  the  ap 
proaching  "  Court  of  Elections  "  not  at  that  town  as  usual,  but 
at  Newtown  (Cambridge).  When  that  Court  assembled,  in 
May,  "  there  was  great  danger  of  tumult."  "  Those  of  that 
side,"  says  Winthrop, 
"  grew  into  fierce  speeches, 
and  some  laid  hands  on 
others ;  but  seeing  them 
selves  too  weak,  they  grew 
quiet."  The  orthodox 
faction  finally  elected 
AYinthrop  over  Vane,  and 
even  dropped  three  mag 
istrates  of  the  other  party 
off  the  Board  of  Assist 
ants.  To  prevent  the 
minority  from  receiving 
expected  reinforcements 
from  England,  they  then 
decreed  that  newcomers 
should  not  settle  in  the 
colony,  nor  even  tarry 
there  more  than  three 
weeks,  without  permission 
from  the  government.  A 
few  weeks  later,  a  brother 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  ar 
rived,  with  many  friends ; 
but  Winthrop  compelled  them  to  pass  on  at  once  to  the  New 
Hampshire  wilderness. 

118.  In  the  following  summer  a  synod  of  clergy  solemnly 
condemned  the  Hutchinson  heresies  ;  and  at  the  General  Court 
in  November  the  majority, "  finding  that  two  so  opposite  parties 
could  not  contain  in  the  same  body  without  hazard  of  ruin  to 
the  whole,"  determined  to  crush  their  opponents.  Mrs.  Hutch- 


SIR  HARRY  VANE.  From  a  portrait 
painted  in  England  probably  by  Van 
Dyck.  Soon  after  the  events  told  in  this 
paragraph,  Vane  went  back  to  England, 
and  there  took  a  leading  part  in  the  Long 
Parliament,  the  overthrow  of  King 
Charles,  and  the  work  of  the  Common 
wealth. 


102  RELIGIOUS   PERSECUTION  [§  119 

inson  and  Wheelwright  were  banished  after  a  farcical  trial ; 
and  "  a  fair  opportunity  "  for  destroying  their  party  was  dis 
covered  in  the  petition,  nine  months  old,  regarding  Wheelwright. 
The  three  Boston  deputies,  because  they  had  "  agreed  to  the 
petition,"  were  expelled  from  the  Court  and  banished  from  the 
colony.  Six  other  leading  citizens  were  disfranchised.  The 
remaining  signers,  seventy-six  in  number,  were  disarmed. 

119.  In  all  this  persecution  the  Massachusetts  Puritans  were 
not  behind  their  age  :  they  merely  were  not  in  advance 1  in  this 
respect.  In  England  the  Puritan  Long  Parliament  in  1341, 
demanding  reform  in  the  church,  protested  that  it  did  not 
favor  toleration  :  "  We  do  declare  it  is  far  from  our  purpose  to 
let  loose  the  golden  reins  of  discipline  and  government  in  the 
church,  to  leave  private  persons  or  particular  congregations  to 
take  up  what  form  of  divine  service  they  please.  For  we  hold 
it  requisite  that  there  should  be  throughout  the  whole  realm  a  con' 
formity  to  that  order  which  the  laivs  enjoin" 

On  the  other  hand,  a  few  far-seeing  men  did  reach  to  loftier 
vision.  In  that  same  year,  Lord  Brooke 2  wrote  nobly  in  a  trea 
tise  on  religion:  "The  individual  should  have  liberty.  No 
power  on  earth  should  force  his  practice.  One  that  doubts 
with  reason  and  humility  may  not,  for  aught  I  see,  be  forced 
by  violence.  .  .  .  Eire  and  water  may  be  restrained ;  but  light 
cannot.  It  will  be  at  every  cranny.  Now  to  stint  it  is  [to 
morrow]  to  resist  an  enlightened  and  inflamed  multitude.  .  .  . 
Can  we  not  dissent  in  judgment,  but  we  must  also  disagree  in 
affection?"  In  America  Roger  Williams  caught  this  truth 
clearly,  and  made  it  the  foundation  principle  of  Rhode  Island. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  — The  best  general  account  is  in  Channing,  I, 
356-380.  Eggleston's  Beginners  of  a  Nation  has  excellent  treatments  of 
the  Williams  and  Hutchinson  episodes. 

1  See  Source  Book,  Nos.  84-86,  on  this  whole  matter. 

2  Lord  Brooke,  with  Lord  Say,  thought  for  a  time  of  settling  in  Massachu 
setts.    Their  correspondence  on  the  matter  with  Winthrop  and  Cotton  is  given 
in  part  in  the  Source  Book.    After  giving  up  this  plan,  the  same  two  Puritan 
nobles  tried  in  partnership  to  establish  a  colony  in  the  Connecticut  valley, 
where  Saybrooke  was  named  for  them.  2:i 


CHAPTER   XIV 

OTHER   NEW   ENGLAND   COLONIES 

120.  By  1640,  when  the  great  Puritan  migration  came  to  an 
end  (§80),  there  were  five  colonies  in  New  England,  besides  Plym 
outh  and  Massachusetts.     English  proprietors  had  founded  fish 
ing  stations  on  the  coasts  of  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  and 
these  settlements   had  been   reinforced   and   Puritanized  by 
Hutchinson   sympathizers    from   Massachusetts.1      The    New 
Haven  group  of  towns  began  with  a  Puritan  migration  from 
England  in  1638.     This  colony  closely  resembled  Massachu 
setts  ;  but  it  had  a  little  less  aristocracy,  and  depended  a  little 
more  on  the  Old  Testament  as  a  guide  in  government. 

The  two  remaining  colonies,  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut, 
represented  new  ideas  and  played  new  parts  in  history.  Each 
was  born  of  rebellion  against  one  part  of  the  Massachusetts  ideal  : 
Rhode  Island,  against  theocracy  ;  Connecticut,  against  aristocracy. 
In  the  long  run  the  great  Massachusetts  plan  of  aristocratic 
theocracy  broke  down ;  while  these  two  little  protesting  colo 
nies  laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  America.  Roger 
Williams  in  Rhode  Island  was  the  apostle  of  modern  religious 
liberty;  and  Thomas  Hooker  in  Connecticut  was  the  apostle  of 
modern  democracy. 

I.    RHODE   ISLAND 

121.  Williams  founded  the  town  of  Providence  in  the  spring 
of  1636  (§  116).     From  the  Indians  he  bought  a  tract  of  land, 
and  deeded  it  in  joint  ownership  to  twelve  companions  "  and  to 

1  Both  these  colonies  were  democratic  in  society.  See  the  interesting 
"  Exeter  Agreement "  in  Source  Book,  No.  46,  addendum. 

103 


104  RHODE   ISLAND  [§  122 

such  others  as  the  major  part  of  us  shall  admit  into  the  same  fel 
lowship."  Later  comers  signed  an  agreement  to  submit  them 
selves  "  only  in  civil  things"  to  orders  made  for  the  public  good 
by  the  town  fellowship,  —  in  which  they  were  freely  granted 
an  equal  voice.  "  Civil "  in  this  passage  is  used  in  its  common 
English  sense  in  that  day,  as  opposed  to  "  ecclesiastical." 

The  point  to  the  agreement  is  that  the  people  did  not  pur 
pose  to  let  the  government  meddle  with  religion.  Williams' 
opinion  upon  the  possibility  of  maintaining  civil  order  without 
compelling  uniformity  in  religion  is  set  forth  admirably  in  his 
figure  of  speech,  comparing  a  state  to  a  ship,  where  all,  passen 
gers  and  seamen,  must  obey  the  captain  in  matters  of  naviga 
tion,  though  all  need  not  attend  the  ship's  prayers  (Source 
Book,  No.  90). 

122.  No   opportunity  was   lost  to   assert  this   doctrine.     In 
1644  Williams  secured  from  the  Long  Parliament  a  "  Patent " 
authorizing  the  Rhode  Island  settlements  to  rule  themselves 
"by  such  a  form  of  civill  government,"  and  to  make  "such 
civill  laws  and  constitutions"  as  the  majority  might  prefer. 
Then,  in  1663,  when  the  colony  received  its  first  royal  charter 
(§  144),  the  fundamental  idea  was  made  yet  more  explicit :  — 

"  Whereas  it  is  much  on  their  hearts,"  says  a  preamble,  quoting  the 
petition  of  the  colonists,  "to  hold  forth  a  livelie  experiment  that  a  most 
flourishing  civill  state  may  stand  .  .  .  with  a  full  libertie  in  religious  con 
cernments,"  accordingly,  "noe  person  within  the  sayd  colonye,  at  any 
tyme  hereafter,  shall  bee  any  wise  molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or 
called  in  question,  for  any  differences  in  opinione  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  [i.e.  provided  he]  doe  not  actually  disturb  the  civill  peace." 

123.  The  practice  of  the  colony,  too,  kept  to  this  high  level. 

During  the  Commonwealth  (§  48)  in  England,  Massachusetts 
complained  that  Rhode  Island  sheltered  Quakers,  who  then 
swarmed  across  her  borders  to  annoy  her  neighbors.  Williams 
disliked  Quakers  heartily ;  but  he  now  replied  that  they  ought 
to  be  punished  only  when  they  had  actually  disturbed  the  peace, 
and  not  merely  for  being  Quakers.  "  We  have  no  law,"  ran  this 
noble  argument,  "  to  punish  any  for  declaring  by  words  their 


§  125]  CONNECTICUT  105 

minds  concerning  the  ways  and  things  of  God."  Massachusetts 
threatened  interference.  The  smaller  colony  appealed  to  Eng 
land,  praying  —  "  Whatever  fortune  may  befall  us,  let  us  not 
be  compelled  to  exercise  power  over  men's  consciences." 

In  Rhode  Island,  religious  freedom  was  not  a  mere  means  to  timorous 
toleration.  The  chief  purpose  of  this  social  "  experiment "  was  to  prove  that 
such  freedom  was  compatible  with  orderly  government  and  good  morals.  For 
a  time  there  was  much  turbulence  in  the  colony.  Providence  became  a 
"  crank's  paradise,"  "  New  England's  dumping  ground  for  the  disorderly 
and  excentric  elements  of  her  population."  But  with  clear-eyed  faith 
Williams  and  his  friends  persisted,  and  finally  worked  out  successfully 
their  "livelie  experiment." 

II.    CONNECTICUT 

The  birthplace  of  American  democracy  is  Hartford.  —  ALEXANDER 
JOHNSTON. 

124.  Three  Massachusetts  towns   had  been  foremost   in  the 
struggle    against    aristocracy,  —  Watertown,    Dorchester,    and 
Newtown.1     In  1635-1636,  the  people  of  these  towns  made  a  new 
migration  to  the  Connecticut  valley,  to  try  their  own  experiment 
of  a  democratic  state. 

When  the  seceding  towns  gave  their  reasons  for  the  migration,  they  put 
emphasis  upon  "  the  strong  bent  of  our  spirits  to  remove."  This  surely 
has  reference  to  their  dissatisfaction  with  aristocratic  rule  in  Massachu 
setts.  But  other  motives  had  part  in  the  movement,  —  among  them,  a 
desire  for  the  more  fertile  land  of  the  valley.  The  journey  through  the 
forests,  with  women  and  children,  herds,  and  household  goods,  was  the 
first  of  the  overland  pilgrimages  which  were  to  become  so  characteristic 
of  American  life. 

125.  The  inspirer  of  this  movement  was  Thomas  Hooker,  pastor 
of  Newtown.     Hooker  became  to  Connecticut  even  more  than 


1  Some  instances  of  Watertown  and  Dorchester  democracy  have  been  given 
(§§  90,  102,  104).  With  regard  to  Newtown,  it  was  said  that  the  people  there 
"grew  very  jealous  of  their  liberties"  soon  after  the  arrival  of  their  pastor 
Hooker,  from  England. 


106 


CONNECTICUT 


Cotton  to  Massachusetts.  These  two  great  leaders  were  widely 
different  in  their  lives  and  feelings.  Cotton  belonged  to  the 
aristocratic  English  gentry.  Hooker's  father  was  a  yeoman. 
He  himself  had  been  a  menial  "  sizar  " *  at  Cambridge  Univer 
sity,  and  his  wife  had  been  a  ladies'  maid.  By  birth  and  asso 
ciation,  as  well  as  by  conviction,  he  was  a  man  of  the  people.2 


OLD  GRIST-MILL,  NEW  LONDON,  CONNECTICUT.    Built  in  1645. 

Over  against  the  aristocratic  doctrines  of  the  great  Massachu 
setts  leaders,  Hooker  stated  admirably  the  case  for  democracy. 
Winthrop  wrote  to  him  that  democracy  was  "  unwarrantable  " 
because  "  the  best  part  is  always  the  least,  and  of  that  best  part 
the  wiser  part  is  always  the  lesser  " ;  but  Hooker  replied :  "  In 
matters  .  .  .  that  concern  the  common  good,  a  general  council 

iThis  term  will  be  familiar  to  students  who  know  Tom  Brown  at  Oxford. 

2  Sixty  years  later,  the  gossipy  Cotton  Mather  insinuated  that  Hooker  in 
stigated  the  Connecticut  migration  because  he  was  jealous  of  Cotton's  fame 
in  Massachusetts.  This  seems  to  be  a  wholly  gratuitous  slander,  without  a 
particle  of  evidence  back  of  it,  —  although  many  later  writers  have  repeated  it. 


§125] 


THOMAS  HOOKER 


107 


NEW   ENGLAND 
IN    1640 


108  CONNECTICUT  [§  126 

chosen  by  all,  to  transact  business  which  concerns  all,  I  conceive 
.  .  .  most  suitable  to  rule  and  most  safe  for  relief  of  the  whole." 
Winthrop  and  Cotton  taught  that  the  magistrates'  authority 
had  divine  sanction.  Hooker  preached  a  great  political  sermon 
to  teach  that  (1)  "  the  foundation  of  authority  is  laid  in  the 
consent  of  the  governed  "  ;  (2)  "  the  choice  of  magistrates  belongs 
to  the  people'7;  and  (3)  " those  who  have  power  to  appoint 
officers,  have  also  the  right  to  set  bounds  to  their  authority." 

Democratic  theory  found  here  its  first  clear  expositor  in  America. 
Fiske  calls  Hooker  "the  father  of  American  democracy."  Alexander 
Johnston  says,  "  It  is  under  the  mighty  preaching  of  Thomas  Hooker  .  .  . 
that  we  draw  the  first  breath  of  that  atmosphere  now  so  familiar  to  us." 

126.  For  a  time  the  three  Connecticut  towns  kept  their 
Massachusetts  names.  Later,  they  were  known  as  Hartford, 
Wethersfield,  and  Windsor.  At  first  they  recognized  a  vague 
authority  in  commissioners  appointed  over  them  by  Massachu 
setts  ;  but  each  town  managed  freely  its  own  local  affairs,  and, 
in  1639,  an  independent  central  government  was  provided  by  a 
mass  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony.  This  gathering 
adopted  a  set  of  eleven  "Fundamental  Orders"  —  "the  first 
written  constitution  "  in  the  modern  sense.1  The  document  set 
up  a  plan  of  government  similar  to  that  which  had  been  worked 
out  in  Massachusetts,  emphasizing,  however,  all  democratic 
features  found  there  and  adding  a  few  of  its  own. 

The  "  supreme  power  of  the  Commonwealth  "  was  placed  in 
a  "  Generall  Courte  "  of  deputies  and  magistrates.2  The  depu 
ties  were  chosen  by  their  respective  towns.  The  magistrates 
corresponded  to  the  Massachusetts  "  Assistants  "  or  the  Virginia 
"  Council."  They  were  nominated  in  a  way  which  was  more 
democratic  than  Massachusetts  then  used  but  which  was  soon 
imitated  there  (§99).  They  were  elected  at  a  "Courte  of 

!The  document  deserves  study  (Source  Book,  No.  93,  with  comment). 

2  They  sat  in  one  House  until  1698.  The  constitution,  however,  guaranteed 
to  the  deputies  the  right  of  caucusing  by  themselves  (as  had  then  come  to  pass 
in  Massachusetts),  and  the  power  to  judge  of  their  own  elections. 


§  1271  STATE   AND  CHURCH  109 

Elections,"  for  one  year  only,  by  papers,  just  as  like  officers  in 
Massachusetts  had  been  chosen  since  1635. 

The  governor  held  office  for  one  year  only,  and  he  could  not 
serve  two  terms  in  succession.1  He  had  no  veto,  and  in  two 
other  respects  he  lacked  authority  usually  possessed  by  an 
English  executive :  (1)  the  General  Court  could  not  be  dissolved 
except  by  its  own  vote ;  and  (2)  it  could  be  elected  and  brought 
together,  on  occasion,  without  the  governor's  summons.  The  right 
of  the  General  Court  is  expressly  asserted  to  "  call  into  ques 
tion  "  magistrate  or  governor,  and  even  (in  modern  phrase)  to 
"  recall "  them  during  their  short  term  of  office. 

The  franchise  was  never  restricted  to  church  members,  as  in 
Massachusetts.  At  first,  any  one  whom  a  town  allowed  to  vote 
in  town  meeting  could  vote  also  in  the  General  Court  of  Elec 
tions.  That  is,  the  towns  fixed  not  only  the  local,  but  also  the 
general  franchise.  But  in  1659  the  General  Court  ordered  that 
thereafter  no  one  should  vote  for  governor  or  for  members  of 
the  General  Court  unless  he  were  possessed  of  thirty  pounds' 
worth  of  property,  real  or  personal.  Even  in  democratic  Con 
necticut  this  property  qualification  stood,  with  slight  change, 
until  long  after  the  American  Revolution. 

127.  Connecticut  did  not  reject  theocracy.  Hooker  believed 
in  a  Bible  commonwealth  as  zealously  as  Cotton  did,  though 
he  understood  his  Bible  differently  on  political  matters.  The 
governor  had  to  be  a  member  of  a  church;  the  preamble  of 
the  Orders  states  the  first  purpose  of  the  government  to  be  the 
maintaining  of  "  the  discipline  of  the  churches,  which  according 
to  the  truth  of  the  gospell  is  now  practiced  amongst  us  " ;  and  the 
first-code  of  laws,  in  1650,  authorizes  the  government  "to  see 
[that]  the  force,  ordinances,  and  rules  of  Christe  bee  observed 
in  every  Church  according  to  his  word."  The  General  Court 
placed  ministers,  defined  their  powers,  and  even  decided  who 
should  be  admitted  to  the  sacraments. 


1  The  democratic  party  had  tried  in  vain  to  establish  this  rule  by  practice 
in  Massachusetts  (§  93,  note) . 


110  CONNECTICUT  [§  127 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — Straus'  Roger  Williams  and  Walker's 
Thomas  Hooker  are  admirable  short  biographies. 

EXERCISE.  —  When  did  Massachusetts  get  a  two-House  legislature? 
What  forms  between  a  one-House  and  two-House  plan  were  tried  ?  While 
the  two  orders  sat  together,  what  were  the  chief  matters  of  difference  be 
tween  them  ?  By  what  different  devices  was  a  union  of  church  and  state 
maintained  ?  Give  instances  of  political  influence  by  Massachusetts  min 
isters.  Find  ten  men  mentioned  in  chapter  xiii  whose  names  and  work 
are  worth  remembering ;  and  place  each  one  clearly  in  a  few  words.  Dis 
tinguish  between  the  ideals  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode 
Island.  Distinguish  between  the  ideals  of  Connecticut  and  Plymouth. 
What  powers  have  been  mentioned  as  exercised  in  Massachusetts  which 
were  not  authorized  by  the  charter  of  1629  ?  Name  four  limitations  upon 
the  usual  power  of  a  colonial  governor  in  the  Connecticut  Fundamental 
Orders.  How  many  of  the  "theme  sentences"  at  the  head  of  chapters 
or  divisions  can  you  repeat?  What  other  phrases  or  passages  in  your 
reading  have  you  found  worthy  of  exact  memorizing  ?  Note  instances  in 
the  history  so  far  of  the  aristocratic  classes  trying  indirectly  to  regain 
power  which  they  had  agreed  to  surrender.  What  distinction  can  you 
make,  for  Massachusetts  history,  between  the  colonial  franchise  and  the 
local  franchise  ?  If  the  class  have  access  to  the  Source  Book,  let  mem 
bers  phrase  questions  based  upon  material  found  there  and  not  covered 
in  this  text,  —  especially  as  to  town  government. 

Let  each  member  of  the  class  make  a  list  of  ten  questions  on  New  Eng 
land  for  brief  answers  by  others  of  the  class. 


CHAPTER   XV 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION 

128.  The  New  England  colonies  had  hardly  established  them 
selves  in  the  wilderness  before  they  began  a  movement  toward 
federal  union.  The  Connecticut  valley  was  claimed  by  the 
Dutch  New  Netherlands.  Moreover,  the  English  settlers  in 
the  valley  found  themselves  at  once  involved  in  war  with  the 
Pequod  Indians.  Connecticut  felt  keenly  the  need  of  protec 
tion  by  the  other  English  colonies ;  and,  in  1637,  Hooker 
(present  at  Boston  for  the  synod  that  condemned  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson)1  proposed  to  Massachusetts  a  federal  compact. 

For  the  moment  the  negotiations  fell  through  because  of 
States-rights  jealousy.  Much  as  Connecticut  feared  Dutchman 
and  Indian,  she  feared  interference  in  her  own  affairs  hardly 
less,  and  hesitated  to  intrust  any  real  authority  to  a  central 
government.  But,  in  1643,  commissioners  from  Massachu 
setts,  Connecticut,  New  Haven  (§  120),  and  Plymouth  met  at 
Boston,  and  organized  the  New  England  Confederation. 

Rhode  Island  and  the  New  Hampshire  towns  asked  in  vain  for  admis 
sion  to  this  union.  The  leaders  of  Massachusetts  were  wont  to  refer  to 
Rhode  Island  as  "that  sewer";  and  regarding  the  exclusion  of  New 
Hampshire,  Winthrop  wrote :  "  They  ran  a  different  course  from  us,  both 
in  their  ministry  and  civil  administration  ...  for  they  .  .  .  had  made  a 
tailor  their  mayor  and  had  entertained  one  Hull,  an  excommunicated 
person,  and  very  contentious,  to  be  their  minister." 

The  date  (1643)  suggests  an  important  relation  between  English  and 
American  history.  The  union  of  the  colonies  without  sanction  from  Eng 
land  was  really  a  serious  defiance  of  authority.  The  United  States  would 
not  permit  such  a  subordinate  union  between  a  group  of  the  States  to-day. 
But  war  had  just  broken  out  in  England  between  King  Charles  and  the 

1  Observe,  a  sort  of  church  union  preceded  political  union. 
Ill 


112  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION  [§  129 

Puritans.  Accordingly,  the  colonies  could  excuse  themselves  (as  they 
did)  on  the  ground  of  necessity,  since  the  home  government  was  tem 
porarily  unable  to  protect  them  ;  while  really  they  were  influenced  still 
more  by  the  fact  that  it  could  not  interfere.  The  preamble  to  the  Articles 
states  all  other  motives  for  the  union  admirably,  but,  naturally,  it  omits 
this  last  consideration.  This  is  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  official 
"sources"  sometimes  omit  the  most  significant  matters,  —  which  the 
historian  must  read  in,  between  the  lines. 

129.   The  Articles  of  Confederation  (Source  Book,  No.  94)  es 
tablished  "  a  firm  and  perpetual  league."     For  matters  of  com- 


SIGNATURES  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS,  1653.    Massachusetts  State  Archives. 

mon  concern,  a  congress  of  eight  commissioners,  two  from  each 
of  the  four  colonies,  was  elected  annually.  These  commis 
sioners  had  "  full  power  from  their  severall  Generall  Courtes 
respectively "  to  determine  upon  war  or  peace,  divide  spoils, 
admit  new  confederates,  and  to  manage 

"all  things  of  like  nature,  which  are  the  proper  concomitants  or  conse 
quents  of  such  a  Confederation  for  amity,  offence,  and  defence,  not  inter 
meddling  with  the  Government  of  any  of  the  Jurisdictions,  ivhich  .  .  .  is 
reserved  entirely  to  themselves." 

The  vote  of  six  commissioners  was  to  be  final  in  all  matters ; 
but  if  in  any  case  six  could  not  agree,  then  the  matter  was  to 


§  131]  THE  ARTICLES  113 

be  referred  to  the  several  colonial  "  Courts  "  for  negotiation 
between  them.  Special  provision  was  made  for  the  surrender 
of  fugitive  criminals  or  "  servants  "  escaping  from  one  colony 
to  another  and  for  arbitration  of  differences  that  might  arise 
between  any  two  colonies  of  the  union. 

130.  This  document  compares  well  with  the  constitution  of  any 
earlier  confederation  in  history.     Its  weak  points  were  common 
to  all  previous  unions.     The  greatest  difficulty  arose  from  the 
fact  that  one  of  the  confederates  was  much  larger  than  the  others. 
Each  of  the  three  smaller  colonies  had  about  three  thousand 
people :   Massachusetts  alone  had  fifteen   thousand.      Conse 
quently  she  bore  three  fifths  of  all  burdens,  while  she  had  only 
a  fourth  share  in  the  government.     The  Bay  Colony  made  an 
earnest  demand  for  three  commissioners,  but  the  smaller  states 
unanimously  resisted  the  claim. 

131.  Under  these  conditions,  Massachusetts  became  dissatis 
fied.     In  1653,  six  of  the  federal  commissioners  voted  a  levy  of 
500  men  for  war  upon  New  Netherlands.     Massachusetts  felt 
least  interested  in  the  war,  and  her  General  Court  refused  to 
furnish  her  300.     In  the  language  of  later  times,  she  nullified 
the  act  of  the  federal  congress  (Source  Book,  Nos.  95,  96). 

After  this,  the  commissioners  were  plainly  only  an  advisory 
body.  In  1*662-1664,  the  absorption  of  New  Haven  by  Con 
necticut  weakened  the  Confederation  still  further ;  and  it 
finally  disappeared  when  Massachusetts  lost  her  charter  in 
1684  (§§147ff.). 


PART   II 

COLONIAL  AMERICANS 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE  STRUGGLE  TO  SAVE  SELF-GOVERNMENT 
(1660-1690) 

I.    THE   COLONIES  AS   A   WHOLE 

132.  The  years  1660-1690  are  a  distinct  period  in  colonial 
development.     The  first  mark  of  the  period  is  a  vast  expansion 
of  territory.     In  1660  the  English  held  two  patches  of  coast,  one, 
about  the  Chesapeake,  the  other,  east  of  the  Hudson.     The 
two  districts  were  separated  by  hundreds  of  miles  of  wilderness 
and  by  Dutch  and  Swedish  possessions.     And  for  more  than 
twenty  years  no  new  English  colony  had  been  founded. 

Thirty  years  later  the  English  colonies  formed  an  unbroken 
band  from  the  Penobscot  to  the  Savannah.  To  the  south  of 
Virginia  the  Carolinas  had  been  added  (1663)  ;  to  the  north  of 
Maryland  appeared  the  splendid  colony  of  Pennsylvania 
(1681)  ;  while  the  rest  of  the  old  intermediate  region  had 
become  English  by  conquest  (New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Delaware).  All  the  colonies,  too,  had  broadened  their  area  of 
settlement  toward  the  interior.  Population  rose  from  60,000  in 
1660  to  250,000  in  1690. 

133.  This  transformation,  from  isolated  patches  of  settlement 
into  a  continuous  colonial   empire,  brought   home  to  English 
rulers  the   need   of  a   uniform  colonial  policy.     Charles  I   had 
had   a   "  Colonial  Council,"   but  it  exercised  little  real  con 
trol.     In  1655,  when  Cromwell  took  Jamaica  from  Spain,  one 
of  his  officials  drew  up  certain  "  Overtures  touching  a  Councill 

114 


ENGLISH  AMERICA 
1660-1690 


Enfflish  settlement, 
Dutch  settlement. 
Swedish  settlement,  1660 


Limit  of  English  occupation 

, 


§  136]  THE   NAVIGATION  ACTS  115 

to  bee  erected  for  foraigne  Plantations."  This  paper  suggested 
various  measures  to  make  the  colonies  "  understand  .  .  .  that 
their  Head  and  Centre  is  Heere."  After  the  Restoration, 
Charles  II  incorporated  much  of  the  document  in  his  "  In 
structions  "  to  a  new  colonial  council  (§  134). 

134.  This  "  Council  for  Foreign  Plantations  "  contained  many 
of  the  greatest  men  of  the  time.     It  was  instructed  to  study 
the  state  of  the  plantations  and  the  colonial  policies  of  other 
countries ;  to  secure  copies  of  the  colonial  charters  and  laws ; 
and  to  have  a  general  oversight  of  all  colonial  matters.     In 
particular  it  was  to  endeavor  "  that  the  severall  collonies  bee 
drawn  .  .  .  into  a  more  certaine,  civill,  and  uniform  waie  of 
Government  and  distribution  of  publick  Justice,  in  which  they 
are  at  present  scandalously  defective." 

In  1674  the  first  "Council  for  Foreign  Plantations"  was 
succeeded  by  the  "Lords  of  Trade,"  and  in  1696  by  the 
"  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations"  During  the  period 
that  we  are  now  considering,  the  Council  was  hard-working, 
honest,  and  well-meaning ;  but  it  was  ignorant  of  the  affairs, 
and  out  of  touch  with  the  people,  that  it  was  trying  to  rule. 
It  strove  to  get  three  results  :  (1)  uniformity  and  economy  in 
colonial  administration  ;  (2)  better  military  defense  ;  and  (3)  new 
commercial  regulations  (§  138). 

135.  European  countries  valued  colonies  (1)  as  a  source  of 
goods  not  produced  at  home  (§  39),  and  (2)  as  a  sure  market  for 
home  manufactures.     So  each  colonizing  country  adopted  "  navi 
gation  acts  "  to  restrict  the  trade  of  its  colonies  exclusively  to 
itself.     Without   this   prospect,   it   would   not  have   seemed 
worth  while  to  found  colonies  at  all.     By  modern  standards, 
all  these  commercial  systems  were  absurd  and  tyrannical ;  but 
the  English  system  was  more  enlightened,  and  far  less  selfish  and 
harsh,  than  that  of  Holland  or  France  or  Spain. 

136.  At  the  other  end   of  the  scale  was  Spain.1      For  two 
hundred  years  all  commerce  from  Spanish  America  could  pass 

1  This  paragraph  is  condensed  from  the  admirable  account  in  Bernard 
Moses'  Establishment  of  Spanish  Rule  in  America,  20-2o'  and  285-292. 


116  COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1660-1690  [§  137 

to  the  outer  world  only  through  Spain,  and  through  only  one 
Spanish  port,  —  first  Seville,  and  afterward  Cadiz.  Worse 
still,  until  1748,  goods  could  be  imported  from  Europe  through 
only  the  one  favored  port  in  Spain,  and  (for  all  the  wide-lying 
New  Spain  in  North  and  South  America)  to  only  two  American 
ports,  and  at  special  times.  Two  fleets  sailed  each  year  from 
Spain,  —  one  to  Porto  Bello  on  the  Isthmus,  for  all  the  South 
American  trade  ;  the  other  to  Vera  Cruz  in  Mexico.  All  other 
trade,  even  between  the  separate  Spanish  colonies,  was  pro 
hibited  under  penalty  of  death.  From  the  most  distant  districts, 
—  Chile  or  Argentina,  —  goods  for  export  had  to  be  carried  to 
Porto  Bello  to  meet  the  annual  fleet.  Then  was  held  a  forty- 
days'  fair,  to  exchange  the  European  imports  for  precious 
metals,  tropical  woods,  and  hides. 

By  this  arrangement,  in  many  parts  of  South  America,  the  prices  of 
European  goods  were  increased  to  five  or  six  times  the  natural  amount, 
while  the  products  with  which  the  colonies  paid  were  robbed  of  value 
by  the  cost  of  transportation.  The  cattle  raised  on  the  vast  plains  of  the 
Argentine  could  reach  a  lawful  market  only  by  being  carried  across 
the  continent  to  Peru,  thence  by  sea  to  Panama,  again  across  the  Isthmus 
to  Porto  Bello,  and  (one  chance  a  year)  from  that  port  to  Seville.  In  the 
early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  at  Buenos  Aires,  an  ox  was  worth 
a  dollar,  and  a  sheep  three  or  four  cents,  —  and  values  had  risen  to  this 
point  only  because  some  contraband  trade  had  sprung  up,  in  spite  of  the 
terrible  penalties. 

To  go  from  Spain  to  America,  except  to  a  few  favored  places,  was  not 
merely  to  go  into  exile,  but  to  renounce  civilization.  The  restrictions  on 
trade  prevented  the  colonists  from  starting  with  the  achievements  of  Euro 
pean  civilization,  and  drove  them  back,  in  many  cases,  to  the  barbarism 
of  the  natives. 

137.  Compared  with  that  sort  of  thing,  England's  policy  was 
modern.  Her  statesmen  did  not  aim,  consciously,  to  benefit  the 
home  country  at  the  expense  of  the  plantations.  They  strove  to 
make  the  parts  of  the  empire  helpful  to  one  another,  so  that  the 
empire  as  a  whole  might  be  self-supporting,  —  independent  of 
the  rest  of  the  world  in  industry  and  economics.  In  large  meas 
ure  they  wished  this  system  of  tariff  "protection"  for  the 


§  138]  THE   NAVIGATION  ACTS  117 

industries  of  the  empire  as  a  means  toward  military  protection 
—  like  American  statesmen  after  the  war   of  1812  (§  507). 

138.  As  a  continuous  system,  the  English  policy  began  with 
the  "First  Navigation  Act"  of  1660.  This  law  had  two  pur 
poses.  The  original  one  was  semi-military,  to  increase  the 
shipping  of  the  empire.  Until  this  time,  most  European  goods, 
even  most  English  goods,  had  been  carried  to  the  colonies  by 
Dutch  vessels.  England's  navy  had  sunk  low.  But  the  safety 
of  the  island  and  of  her  colonies  rested  upon  command  of  the 
seas.  In  that  day,  trading  vessels  were  easily  turned  into  war 
vessels  ;  and  to  build  up  a  merchant  marine  was  a  natural 
measure  for  naval  protection.  Accordingly  this  law  provided 
that  all  trade  between  England  and  the  colonies  should  be  carried 
only  in  ships  owned,  and,  for  the  most  part,  manned,  by  English 
men  or  colonials.1 

This  part  of  the  Act  was  highly  successful.  Holland's  carrying  trade, 
and  her  naval  supremacy,  received  a  deadly  blow.  Nor  did  this  part  of 
the  law  discriminate  against  the  colonies  in  the  interest  of  England. 
Rather  it  directly  benefited  them,  especially  the  northern  ones.  Tem 
porarily,  trade  suffered  from  lack  of  ships,  and  from  consequent  high 
freights ;  but  the  Act  created  the  great  shipbuilding  industry  of  New 
England.  In  less  than  twenty  years  the  colonies  were  selling  ships  to 
England.  By  1720  Massachusetts  alone  launched  150  ships  a  year,  and 
the  shipbuilders  of  England  were  petitioning  parliament,  in  vain,  for  pro 
tection  against  this  invasion  upon  their  ancient  industry.  The  carrying 
trade  of  the  empire  also  passed  largely  into  the  hands  of  New  Englanders  ; 
and  this  trade  was  protected  by  the  English  war  navy,  to  which  the 
colonists  contributed  only  a  few  masts  from  their  forests. 

A  second  part  of  the  law  (added  at  the  last  moment  by  amend 
ment)  somewhat  restricted  exports.  Sugar,  tobacco,  cotton-wool, 
ginger,  and  dyewoods,  were  thereafter  to  be  carried  from  a 

1 "  .  .  .  ships  which  truly  .  .  .  belong  to  the  people  of  England  or  Ireland 
...  or  are  built  of  and  belonging  to  any  of  the  said  Plantations  or  Terri 
tories  .  .  .  and  whereof  the  master  and  three  fourths  of  the  mariners  at  least 
are  English."  The  word  "  English  "  always  included  the  colonials,  and  it 
was  specifically  defined  in  this  sense  by  ft  supplemental  Navigation  Act  two 
years  later  (Source  Book,  No.  100,  a,  and  note). 


118  COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1660-1690  [§  139 

colony  only  to  England  or  another  English  colony.  These 
"  enumerated  articles  "  were  all  semi-tropical.  New  England 
could  still  send  her  lumber,  furs,  fish,  oil,  and  rum  to  any  part 
of  the  world  —  if  only  they  were  carried  in  her  own  or  English 
ships.  Tobacco  was  the  only  "  enumerated  article  "  produced  for 
export  at  that  time  on  the  continent  of  North  America ;  and  for 
the  restriction  on  tobacco,  England  gave  an  offset.  She  forbade 
her  own  citizens  to  raise  tobacco,  or  import  it  from  foreign 
colonies,  so  giving  Virginia  and  Maryland  a  monopoly  of  her 
market. 

American  students  find  it  hard  to  remember  that  the  navigation  laws 
were  adopted  mainly  with  a  view  to  the  English  West  Indies,  not  with 
regard  to  the  colonies  that  grew  later  into  the  United  States.  In  1697 
Jamaica  alone  had  more  commerce  with  England  than  all  the  continental 
colonies  together  north  of  Virginia,  while  the  West  Indies,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia  (the  sugar  and  tobacco  colonies)  had  seven  times  as  much  English 
trade  as  all  the  other  colonies. 

139.  The  import  trade  was  first  restricted  by  the  Navigation 
Act  of  1663.     Thereafter,  it  was  ordered,  all  European  goods 
must  pass  to  the  colonies  only  through  English  ports.     This  act 
was  designed  to  keep  colonial  trade  from  falling  into  the  hands 
of  other  countries.     It  increased  the  profits  of  English  mer 
chants  ;   but,  to  guard  the  colonists  against  paying  double  taxes, 
a  rebate  of  the  English  import  duties  was  allowed  on  all  goods 
reshipped  for  the  colonies.1 

140.  This  was  as  far  as  the  system  went  until  after  1690. 
(i)  The   subtropical  colonies  could  export  their  products  only  to 
England  or  other  English  colonies ;    (2)  all  imports  to  all  colonies 
must  come  through  England ;    (3)   all  ships  in  the  colonial  trade 
must  be  English  or  colonial. 

1  In  1660  tariff  duties  both  for  the  colonies,  and  for  England,  had  been  im 
posed  on  a  long  list  of  goods.  In  the  colonies,  however,  this  Act  was  always 
practically  a  dead  letter.  There  was  no  proper  machinery  to  enforce  it ;  and 
no  serious  attempt  was  made  to'  do  so.  Whenever  the  restrictions  were  seri 
ously  troublesome,  they  were  evaded  by  smuggling.  In  1700,  it  is  estimated, 
one  third  the  trade  of  New  York  was  in  smuggled  goods. 


§141] 


THE   NAVIGATION  ACTS 


119 


A  Massachusetts  ship  could  still  carry  any  product  of  that 
colony  to  any  part  of  the  world,  exchange  for  goods  there,  carry 
these  goods  to  England,  and  then  "  reship  "  them  for  an  American 
port,  or  exchange  them  for  other  European  goods  in  the  English 
markets,  to  be  then  carried  to  America.  Says  Channing  (United 
States  of  America,  32)  :  "  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  the  net 
result  of  this  system  .  .  .  was  in  favor  of  Great  Britain  or  the 
colonies." 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  The  best  brief  treatment  of  the  general 
phases  of  this  period  is  Andrews'  Colonial  Self-Government,  3-40.  See 
also  Channiug's  History  of  the  United  States,  II,  1-13. 


A  TYPICAL  ENGLISH  TRADING  VESSEL  OF  COLONIAL  TIMES.  The  Schooner 
"Baltick"  coming  out  of  St.  Eustatia,  Dutch  West  Indies,  November, 
1765.  From  a  water  color  now  in  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Mass. 


II.     NEW   ENGLAND,  1660-1690 

141.  Charles  II  found  himself  beset  with  accusations  against 
Massachusetts.  In  1656  Quakers  had  appeared  in  that  colony. 
Three,  who  persisted  in  returning  after  banishment,  had  been 
hanged,  while  several  others,  women  among  them,  had  been 


120 


COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1660-1690 


[§142 


flogged  brutally.  The  Quakers  complained  to  Charles,  and  in 
1660  he  ordered  the  colony  to  send  all  imprisoned  Quakers  to 
England  for  trial.  But  the  men  of  Massachusetts  were  re 
solved  to  permit  no  appeal  from  their  own  courts.  They  chose 
rather  to  empty  the  jails,  and  drop  the  persecution. 

Afterward,  for  a  time,  the  persecution  was  renewed,  with  Charles' 
approval,  but  no  more  executions  took  place.  Imprisonments  and  whip 
pings  were  the  common  fate  of  Quakers  in  England  and  in  all  the  colonies 
of  that  time  except  Rhode  Island.  These  Quakers,  of  course,  were  not 
the  quiet,  sober  brethren  of  later  times :  many  of  them  were  half-mad 
fanatics.  "  It  was  a  little  hard,"  says  Lowell,  u  to  know  what  to  do  with 
a  woman  who  persisted  in  interrupting  your  honored  minister  in  his 
sermon,  calling  him  Priest  of  Baal,  and  breaking  empty  bottles  over  his 
head"  (in  sign  of  his  emptiness).  None  the  less,  the  three  executions 
remain  a  bloody  blot  on  the  fame  of  Massachusetts.  Nowhere  else  was  a 
death  penalty  inflicted  by  law.  It  does  seem  a  little  strained,  however,  to 
speak,  as  a  recent  historian  does,  of  "  wholesale  hangings  "  of  Quakers  in 
Massachusetts.  (The  Source  Book,  No.  88,  gives  some  interesting  docu 
ments  from  the  Quaker  side.) 

The  King  was  irritated  also  by  learning  that  Massachusetts 
had  usurped  the  right  to  coin  money  (the  famous  "  Pine  Tree 

Shillings ")  during  the 
Commonwealth,  and  that 
two  of  the  "  regicide " 
judges  who  had  passed 
sentence  on  his  father 
were  still  sheltered  in 
New  England.  Worst  of 
all,  perhaps,  the  Bay  Col 
ony  disregarded  the  Navi 
gation  Acts,  and,  in  1661, 
even  adopted  a  daring 
resolution  styling  such 
legislation  "an  infringement  of  our  rights." 

142.  For  the  moment,  Charles  contented  himself  with  demanding 
(1)  that  an  oath  of  allegiance  be  taken  in  the  colony ;  (2)  that 
the  Episcopalian  service  be  permitted ;  and  (3)  that  the  fran- 


A  PINE  TREE  SHILLING.  From  the  origi 
nal  in  the  Collections  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Historical  Society.  The  XII  means 
twelve  pence.  Note  the  spelling  of  "  Mas 
sachusetts."  There  is  no  allusion  to 
England's  authority. 


§  144]  FRICTION  WITH  ENGLAND  121 

chise  be  extended  to  all  men  "orthodox  in  religion  and  of 
competent  estate."  The  colony  complied  with  the  first  de 
mand,  ignored  the  second,  and  evaded  the  third.  An  act  of 
General  Court  did  provide  that  a  non-churchmember  might  be 
made  a  freeman,  if  his  good  character  were  testified  to  by  the 
minister  of  his  town  and  if  he  paid  a  ten-shilling  "rate"  (local 
tax).  But  the  Puritan  ministers  gave  few  such  certificates  to 
those  outside  their  own  folds,  and  few  men  were  then  called 
upon  to  pay  ten  shillings  in  a  single  rate.  So  the  number  of 
freemen  did  not  much  increase. 

143.  Connecticut,  New  Haven,  and  Rhode  Island  had  no  legal 
standing   in  England.     The   people  were  squatters,  and  the 
governments  -unauthorized.     Now  that  order  was  restored  in 
England,  it  was  plain  that  something  must  be  done  to  remedy 
this  condition ;  and  all  three  colonies  sent  agents  to  England  to 
secure  royal  charters. 

144.  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  were  successful  almost  be 
yond  belief.     They  were  left  with  self-government  nearly  as 
complete  as  before.     In  neither  colony  did  the  crown  appoint 
the  governor  or  any  other  important  official.     This  remarkable 
liberality  was  due  partly  to  the  careless  good  nature  -of  Charles 
in  the  early  portion  of  his  reign ;   partly  to   an  enthusiasm 
among  English  officials  just  then  for  the  colonies ;  and  partly, 
perhaps,  to  a  willingness  to  build  up  other  New  England  gov 
ernments  so  as  to  offset  the  stiff-necked  Bay  Colony. 

All  that  the  Massachusetts  charter  had  become,  —  this  and 
more  these  new  charters  were  from  the  first.  They  made  th'e 
settlers  a  "  corporation  upon  the  place,"  and  sanctioned  demo 
cratic  self-government  (Source  Book,  Nos.  97,  98).  With  good 
reason  they  were  cherished  and  venerated.  At  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  they  received  the  name  of  constitutions  ;  and  they 
continued  in  force,  without  other  alteration,  in  Connecticut  until 
1818,  and  in  Rhode  Island  until  1842. 

A  glance  at  the  map  on  page  107  shows  sufficient  reason  why  New  Haven 
and  Connecticut  should  not  both  receive  charters.  The  question  was 
which  should  swallow  the  other.  New  Haven  used  little  diplomacy  in  her 


122  NEW  ENGLAND,   1660-1690  [§  145 

negotiations ; l  and  possibly  she  was  too  much  of  the  Massachusetts  type 
to  find  favor  in  any  case.  Her  territory  was  included  in  the  Connecticut 
grant.  This  began  the  process  of  consolidation  which  was  soon  to  be 
tried  on  a  larger  scale. 

145.  Friction  with   Massachusetts    continued.    Episcopalians 
there  complained  still  that  for  thirty  years  they  had  been 
robbed  of  civil  and  religious  rights.     So  in  1664  Charles  sent 
commissioners  to  regulate  New  England  and  to  conquer  New 
Netherlands  from  the  Dutch  —  with  whom  England  was  at 
war.     In   their  military   expedition  the  commissioners  were 
entirely  successful.     Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  Plymouth 
then  recognized  their  authority  cordially,  and  even  permitted 
them  to  hear  appeals  from  colonial  courts ;  but  Massachusetts 
still  gave  them  scant  welcome. 

146.  The  matter  of  appeals  (§  141)  was  a  chief  point  in  the 
commissioners'  instructions.     It  was  to  be  the  means  of  enforc 
ing  royal  authority.     But  in  Boston,  they   were   completely 
thwarted.     After  weeks  of  futile  discussion,  they  announced 
a  day  when  they  would  sit  as  a  court  of  appeals.     At  sun 
rise  on  that  day,  by  order  of  the  Massachusetts  magistrates,  a 
crier,  with  trumpet,   passed   through   the   town,  warning  all 
citizens  not  to  recognize  the  court.     No  one  ventured  to  dis 
obey  the  stern  Puritan  government,  and  the  chagrined  com 
missioners  returned  to  England. 

147.  There  the    commissioners    at    once    recommended    that 
Massachusetts  be   deprived  of  its  charter.     But  the  next  year 
the  victorious  Dutch  fleet  was  in  the  Thames.     Then  came  the 
great  London  fire  and  the  plague.     The  Colonial  Board  did  re 
peatedly  order  Massachusetts  to  send  an  agent  to  England  to 
arrange   a   settlement ;   but   the   colony  procrastinated   stub 
bornly,  and  for  ten   years  with  success.     In   1675,  however, 
the   great   Indian   outbreak,   known   as   King   Philip's   War, 
weakened  Massachusetts.      Just  at   this   time,   too,   Charles, 
entering  upon  a  more  despotic  period  at  home,  began  to  act 

1  See  Johnston's  Connecticut  for  material  for  an  interesting  report. 


§  150]  THE   RULE   OF  ANDROS  123 

more  vigorously  toward  the  colonies ;  and  in  1684  the  highest 
English  court  declared  the  charter  of  1629  forfeited  and  void. 

148.  The  Lords  of  Trade  (§  134)  had  decided  that  to  have  so 
many  independent  governments  "  without  a  more  immediate 
dependence  upon  the  crown"  was  "prejudicial"  to  England's 
interest ;  and  they  drew  up  a  plan  for  the  union  of  Massachu 
setts,  Plymouth,  and  the  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  towns,  under 
one  royal  governor-general. 

They  would  gladly  have  included  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  in  the  plan,  and  so  consolidated  all  New  England  into 
one  province,  but  charters  stood  in  the  way ;  and,  unlike  Mas 
sachusetts,  the  two  smaller  colonies  had  given  little  excuse  for. 
legal  proceedings  against  them.  Still,  when  Charles  died  in 
1685,  James  II  forced  the  consolidation,  in  spite  of  the 
charters.  He  appointed  Sir  Edmund  Andros  governor-general 
of  all  New  England,  and  instructed  him  to  set  aside  the  gov 
ernments  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  by  force. 

149.  The  original  plan  of  the  Lords  of  Trade  had  provided 
one  elected  legislature  for  New  England.     James  struck  out  this 
clause,  leaving  the  government  despotic1  as  well   as  unified. 
He  also  once  more  extended  the  territory  to  which  the  plan 
should  apply.     He  was  already  proprietor  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  (§  171),  and  these  colonies  were  soon  united  with 
New  England  under  the  rule  of  Andros. 

150.  Andros  was  a  bluff,  hot-tempered  soldier.     He  was  com 
mander  of  the  soldiery  he  brought  with  him  and  of  the  mili 
tia  ;  and,  with  the  consent   of  an  appointed  council,  he  was 
authorized   to  lay  taxes,  make   laws,  administer  justice,  and 
grant  lands.     His  management  of  military  affairs  was  admi 
rable,  and  he  saved  New  England  from  serious  Indian  danger ; 
but  the   colonists  gave  him  scant  credit.     In  other  matters, 
naturally,  he  clashed  violently  with  the  settlers. 

He  insisted  that  Episcopalian  services  should  be  held  on  at 

1  This  was  done  despite  the  declaration  of  the  attorney-general  in  England 
that  the  colonists  had  the  right  "  to  consent  to  such  laws  and  taxes  as  should 
be  made  or  imposed  on  them." 


124  NEW  ENGLAND,   1660-1690  [§  151 

least  part  of  each  Sunday  in  one  of  the  Boston  churches.  To 
the  Puritans  this  was  a  bitter  offense.  Land  titles,  too,  were 
a  fruitful  source  of  irritation.  In  granting  lands,  the  colonies 
had  paid  little  attention  to  the  forms  of  English  law  or  to 
proper  precaution  against  future  confusion  (Source  Book,  No. 
89).  Andros  provided  for  accurate  surveys,  and  compelled 
old  holders  to  take  out  new  deeds,  with  small  fees  for  regis 
tration.  He  treated  all  the  common  lands,  too,  as  crown  land. 
More  serious  was  the  total  disappearance  of  self-government 
and  even  of  civil  rights.  Andros  ordered  the  old  taxes  to  be 
continued.  Some  Massachusetts  towns  resisted ;  and  at  Ips- 
•wich  a  town  meeting  voted  that  such  method  of  raising  taxes 
"did  infringe  their  liberty  as  free-born  English  subjects." 
The  offenders  were  tried  for  "seditious  votes  and  writings," 
not  before  the  usual  courts,  but  by  a  special  commission.  The 
jury  was  packed  and  was  browbeaten  into  a  verdict  of  guilty, 
and  leading  citizens  who  had  dared  to  stand  up  against  tyranny 
were  imprisoned  and  ruinously  fined. 

151.  This  absolute  government   lasted  two  years  and  a  half. 
Massachusetts  was  getting  ready  to  rebel;   but  under  ordinary 
conditions   a   rising   would    have    been   put    down   bloodily. 
Thanks   to  the  "Glorious  Revolution"  of   1688  in  Old  Eng 
land,1  the  rising  when  it  came  was  successful  and  bloodless. 

In  April,  1689,  came  the  news  that  James  II  was  a  fugitive. 
The  new  king,  William  of  Orange,  had  issued  a  "  Declaration," 
inviting  all  boroughs  in  England,  and  all  officials  unjustly  de 
prived  of  charters  and  positions  by  James,  to  resume  their 
former  powers.  The  colonists  assumed  that  this  sanctioned 
like  action  by  them  also.  The  people  of  Boston  and  neighbor 
ing  towns  seized  a  war  vessel  in  the  harbor,  imprisoned  Andros, 
and  restored  the  charter  government.  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  also  revived  their  former  charters. 

152.  William  III  would  have  been  glad  to   continue  part  of 
the  Stuart  policy  in  America.     He  wished,  so  far  as  possible, 
to  consolidate  small  jurisdictions  into  large  ones,  and  to  keep  the 

i  Modern  World,  §  455. 


§153] 


SETTLEMENT  OF  1691 


125 


governor  and  judges  in  each  colony  dependent  upon  himself 
The  Connecticut  and  Khode  Island  charters  stood  in  the  way 
of  a  complete  rearrangement  of  this  sort ;'  and  the  King's  law 
yers  assured  him  that 

held 

legal 


BOSTON 

J.w 

o 


!<8? 


ottos  flK  ?nbabitantfi  of 


(iota 


arms,  m  tbt  aru  ino/.tuii 

:.  Mi-  Br.ttlt  jbg  ti.S 
uu  vout  £«-«',>'i.-»,  tl)  it 


aim  £H1iW  up  tpt 
toD.  to  be  CHfpofco 


premiums  all  *>;airit)? 
o;  paitr  fflentlanm  ano 

tot  act  adureo  rbn1  toll 
oas  bp  atoj.n,  if  an?  op= 


To  5r.  F.Jmond  Androfs  Knighf. 


those  grants  still 
good,  —  since  the 
proceedings  against  them 
had  never  been  com 
pleted.  Massachusetts 
did  not  fare  so  well.  Her 
charter  had  been  formally 
surrendered.  The  colony 
strove  skillfully 1  to  obtain 
a  regrant  of  the  original 
patent ;  but  the  best  it 
could  do  was  to  accept  a 
new  one. 

153.  The  Charter  of  1691 
(Source  Book,  110,  6)  cre 
ated  a  government  for 
Massachusetts  more  like 
that  of  Virginia  than  like 
that  of  Connecticut.  Six 
features  may  be  noted. 

The  crown  appointed 
and  removed  the  governor. 

The  Assembly  nomi 
nated  the  Council,  but 
these  nominations  were 
valid  only  after  the  gov 
ernor's  approval. 

The  governor  could  adjourn  or  dissolve  the  Assembly  at  will ; 
and  he,  and  the  crown,  held  an  absolute  veto  upon  all  its  acts. 

1  To  conciliate  William,  the  promised  reform  in  the  franchise  was  at  last 
made  effective.  The  certificate  of  a  clergyman  as  to  the  applicant's  fitness 
was  not  required,  and  the  taxpaying  qualification  was  reduced  from  ten  shil- 


BOSTON'S  SUMMONS  TO  ANDROS. 

From  Massachusetts  State  Archives. 

The  first  signer  was  the  minister  who, 
soon  after,  spoke  the  words  quoted  at  the 
head  of  page  66  above. 


126  VIRGINIA,   1660-1690  [§  154 

The  higher  judiciary  were  appointed  by  the  governor  ;  and 
appeals  to  the  king  in  council  were  provided  for,  in  cases  where 
the  sum  in  dispute  amounted  to  £300. 

Eeligious  freedom  for  all  Protestant  sects  was  promised. 

The  franchise  was  placed  upon  a  property  basis.  All  men 
owning  land  of  forty  shillings  annual  value,  or  possessing 
forty  pounds  in  personal  property,  became  voters. 

The  last  two  provisions  in  great  measure  overthrew  the  old  theocracy  ; 
the  first  four  to  all  practical  intents  made  Massachusetts  a  royal  prov 
ince.  At  the  same  time,  Maine,  Plymouth,  and  Nova  Scotia  were  included 
in  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING  on  New  England  from  1660  to  1690,  excellent 
material  will  be  found  in  Andrews'  Colonial  Self-government  (4) -73, 
252-272)  and  in  Charming,  II  (65-79,  156-185). 

III.     VIRGINIA,  1660- 1690  * 

154.  During  the  Commonwealth,  many  of  the  dispossessed 
royalist  gentry  turned  their  faces  toward  the  New  World,  — 
as  the  Puritans  had  done  in  their  hour  of  gloom  a  generation 
earlier.     At  the  Restoration,  the  royalists  who  were  still  in 
England  expected  to  get  back  the  lands  they  had  lost.     But 
the  great  majority  were  disappointed  of  this  hope,  and  so  the 
movement  to  America  received  new  impetus.     Practically  all 
this  emigration  went  to  Virginia.     Between  1650  and  1670, 
the  population  of  that  colony  rose  from  15,000  to  40,000  ;  and 
more  than  half  of  this  increase  came  from  immigration. 

155.  This  migration  ranks  in  importance  side  by  side  with  the 
earlier  ten-year  Puritan  movement.     It  made  Virginia  the  land 
of  the  Cavaliers.     In  this  period,  there  appeared  in  America  the 
ancestors  of  the  Virginia  Harrisons,  Lees,  Masons,  Madisons, 
Marshalls,  Monroes,  Nelsons,  Nicholases,  Pages,  Peytons,  Pen- 
dletons,  Randolphs,  Wythes,  Washingtons. 

lings  to  four.    Then,  in  a  few  weeks,  909  new  freemen  were  admitted  —  more 
than  in  the  preceding  sixteen  years. 

1  Reread  §§  25-49  before  taking  up  this  Division. 


§  156]  THE   COMING  OF  THE   CAVALIERS  127 

These  country  gentry  fitted  easily  into  the  rural  society  of 
Virginia.  There  they  became  an  attractive  and  lovable  set  of 
leaders.  They  were  somewhat  less  active  intellectually  than 
the  Puritan  leaders,  less  stimulated  by  the  friction  of  town 
life  and  by  religious  controversy,  and  less  inclined  to  mark  out 
new  ways  in  state  or  church.  But  they  were  robust,  daunt 
less,  chivalrous,  devout,  and  deeply  imbued  with  the  best  tradi 
tion  of  the  best  part  of  England  (rural  England)  in  England's 
most  heroic  century.  The  earlier  migration  to  Virginia  had 
given  that  colony  a  noble  history ;  but  it  was  this  Cavalier 
immigration  of  the  fifties  and  sixties  which  a  century  later 
flowered  into  Virginia's  splendid  galaxy  of  Revolutionary 
patriots,  and,  a  little  later  still,  justified  to  the  Old  Dominion 
her  proud  title,  "  Mother  of  Presidents." 

The  party  epithets,  Cavalier  and  Roundhead,  should  not  blind  us  to 
the  close  likeness  between  the  gentry  elements  in  Massachusetts  and  Vir 
ginia.  The  "  Cavalier  "  emigrants  were  not  graceless,  riotous  hangers-on 
of  the  court,  slavishly  subservient  to  despotism,  as  they  are  sometimes 
pictured.  They  were  God-fearing,  high-minded  gentlemen,  who  had  loved 
liberty  only  a  degree  less  than  they  had  feared  anarchy,  — men  of  the 
same  social  stamp  and  habits  of  thought  as  the  Winthrops,  Dudleys,  and 
Humphreys  of  the  Bay  Colony,  and  the  Hampdens,  Pyms,  and  Eliots  in 
England,  with  whom  they  had  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  for  a  generation 
of  constitutional  struggle  before  the  Civil  War,  and  from  whom  they  sepa 
rated  at  last  with  mutual  grief  when  the  great  war  came. 

156.  The  first  effect  of  the  Cavaliers  on  politics  in  Virginia 
was  bad.  In  1660  a  new  Assembly  was  elected,  and  the  wild 
enthusiasm  for  the  Restoration  filled  it  with  Cavalier  hot 
heads.  Since  1628,  a  new  Assembly  had  been  chosen  at  least 
once  in  two  years  ;  but,  by  an  arbitrary  stretch  of  power,  Gov 
ernor  Berkeley  (§  49)  kept  this  unfit  Cavalier  Assembly  alive, 
without  a  new  election  for  sixteen  years  —  much  as  his  royal 
master  in  England  did  with  his  unfit  Cavalier  Parliament. 
Moreover,  Berkeley,  in  this  second  term,  was  an  old  man,  tor 
tured  by  ill-health,  arrogant,  peevish,  vindictive,  —  an  easy  tool 
for  a  ring  of  greedy  favorites.  His  long  administration,  from 


128 


VIRGINIA,   1660-1690 


[§157 


1660  to  1677,  was  a  period  of  misgovernment  and  political 
reaction. 

157.  With  the  Restoration,  governor  and  Council  ceased  to  be 
elective  (§  48).     Berkeley   received   a   commission  from  King 

Charles ;  and  this,  he  felt, 
freed  him  from  the  re 
strictions  the  Assembly 
had  placed  upon  him 
(§  49).  According  to  the 
royal  instructions,  he  re 
sumed  the  absolute  veto 
and  the  power  to  dissolve 
and  call  Assemblies  at  his 
will 

These  changes  put  the 
government  back  where 
it  was  before  the  Com 
monwealth.  But  this  was 
not  all.  A  law  of  1670 
took  the  right  to  vote  from 
all  but  landowners  ("  free 
holders  "). 

The  franchise  in  Virginia 
had  been  exceedingly  liberal. 
All  free  White  males  had  had 
votes,  —  including  former  servants  when  their  terms  had  expired.  In  1655, 
indeed,  a  law  was  passed  restricting  the  right  to  "householders,"  but  it 
was  repealed  the  next  year  on  the  ground  that  it  was  "  hard  and  unagree 
able  to  reason  that  any  shall  pay  equal  taxes  and  not  have  a  voice  in 
elections."  (Source  Book,  No.  35  ;  cf.  also  No.  105  for  the  law  of  1670.) 

158.  So  far  we  have  considered  changes  only  in  the  "  cen 
tral  government."     In  local  government,  the  loss  was  even  more 
serious.     The   county  raised  local  taxes  and   expended   them, 
and  it  passed  "  by-laws  "  of  considerable  importance.1     Until 

1  In  1632  the  county  became  the  unit  for  the  choice  of  representatives  to 
the  General  Assembly.  On  the  other  local  unit,  the  parish,  see  American 
History  and  Government,  §  103. 


SIR  WILLIAM  BERKELEY  IN  MIDDLE  AGE. 
From  a  portrait  owned  by  Mrs.  Margaret 
Du  Pont  Lee  of  Washington,  D.  C. 


§  160]  POLITICAL  REACTION  129 

the  Restoration  these  things  were  done  in  the  county  court, 
—  a  meeting  of  all  free  White  males ;  but  now  most  of  these 
powers  were  transferred  from  the  open  court  to  a  Board  of 
eight  "  Justices "  in  each  county,  appointed  by  the  governor 
from  the  more  important  landowners.  Other  men  could  still 
come  to  the  county  courts  as  spectators,  but  their  political 
power  was  limited  to  casting  a  vote  now  and  then  in  the  elec 
tion  of  a  new  Assembly. 

Along  with  this  political  reaction  went  many  other  serious 
faults.  Taxes  were  exorbitant,  and  were  expended  wastefully. 
There  was  much  unjust  "  class  legislation,"  such  as  the  ex 
emption  of  Councilors  and  their  families  from  taxation.  The 
sheriffs  (appointed  by  the  governor  on  the  advice  of  the  county 
justices)  and  other  law  officers  charged  oppressive  fees  for 
simple  and  necessary  services.  The  governor  granted  to  his 
favorites  vexatious  trade  monopolies,  which  robbed  the  people. 

159.  The  40,000  inhabitants  of  1670  included  2000  Negro 
slaves  and  6000  White  bond  servants.1     There  were  also  several 
thousand  ex-servants  who  had  not  acquired  land  and  who  re 
mained  as  laborers  on  the  plantations  of  their  former  masters. 
The  rest  of  the  population  consisted  of  a  few  hundred  large 
planters  and  a  large  body  of  small  planters. 

Discontent  was  chronic  in  the  servant  class  ;  and  now  the  small 
planters  also  were  restive.  They  were  practically  unrepresented, 
and  they  felt  rightly  that  they  were  overtaxed  and  discrimi 
nated  against.  The  navigation  laws  intensified  their  grievances. 
The  lack  of  vessels  enough  to  transport  tobacco  to  the  English 
market  did  not  much  hurt  the  large  planters,  whose  crops 
would  be  taken  care  of  first ;  but,  for  a  time,  the  small  planter 
often  found  his  entire  crop  left  on  his  hands,  or  (if  he  shipped 
at  all)  his  small  profits  were  eaten  up  by  the  increased 
freights. 

160.  These  conditions  led  to  the  first  "rebellion"  in  America. 
The  occasion  was  an  Indian  outbreak  which  Berkeley's  ineffi 
cient  government  let  go  without  check.     Finally  the  savages 

1  Cf.  Source  Book,  No.  104  (Berkeley's  Report  of  1671). 


130 


VIRGINIA,   1660-1690 


[§  160 


ravaged  an  outlying  plantation  of  Nathaniel  Bacon,  an  energetic 
young  planter.  Bacon  raised  troops  and  punished  the  Indians 
terribly  in  two  campaigns ;  but  Berkeley  declared  the  young 
captain  and  his  followers  rebels,  because  they  had  secured  no 
commission  for  military  action. 

There  followed  an   obscure  quarrel  over  a  commission  ex 
torted  from  the  governor ;  and  this  quarrel  merged  into  a  civil 

war.  From  a  valiant  In 
dian  fighter,  Bacon  was 
suddenly  transformed  into 
a  popular  champion  and  a 
democratic  hero.  Finding 
arms  in  their  hands,  he  and 
his  party  tried  to  use  them 
for  social  and  political  re 
form.  "  Bacon's  Rebel 
lion"  became  a  rising 
against  "  special  privi 
lege."  The  fundamental 
cause  was  not  discontent  at 
the  inefficiency  of  the  gov 
ernment  against  the  In 
dians,  but  social  discontent. 
Berkeley  was  deserted. 
During  much  of  the  strug 
gle,  he  could  hardly  muster 
a  corporal's  guard.  The 
aristocracy,  however,  did 
not  join  Bacon.  They 
were  too  much  opposed  to 

during  Bacon's  Rebellion,  and  was  never  rebellion,  and  too  jealous 
rebuilt.  This  ruined  tower  is  all  that  toward  the  democratic 
remains.  f  ,, 

features  ot  the  movement ; 

so  they  simply  held  aloof  from  either  side.  But  Bacon  was 
supported  by  the  great  body  of  small  planters,  especially  in 
the  western  counties. 


RUIN  OF  THE  JAMESTOWN  CHURCH.   From 
a  photograph.    Jamestown  was  burned 


§  161]  BACON'S  REBELLION  131 

These  sturdy,  honest  people  were  vilified,  of  course,  especially  after 
the  failure  of  the  rebellion,  by  aristocratic  contemporaries.  One  Vir 
ginian  gentleman  refers  to  them  as  "Tag,  rag,  and  bobtail."  Another 
declared  that  Bacon  ' '  seduced  the  Vulgar  and  most  ignorant  People 
(two  thirds  of  each  county  being  of  that  Sorte)  Soe  that  theire  whole 
hearts  and  hopes  were  set  upon  him."  Another  describes  the  rebels  as 
14  a  Rabble  of  the  basest  sorte  of  People  whose  condicion  was  such  as  by 
a  chaunge  could  not  adruitt  of  worse  .  .  .  not  20  in  the  whole  Route  but 
what  were  Idle  and  will  not  worke,  or  such  whom  Debaucherie  or  Idle 
Husbandry  has  brought  in  Debt  beyond  hopes  or  thought  of  payment 
.  .  .  who,  for  the  Ease  of  the  Poore,  will  have  no  taxes  .  .  .  [and]  talk 
openly  of  shareing  men's  Estates." 

When  the  rebellion  began,  popular  clamor  forced  the  gover 
nor  to  dissolve  his  fossilized  Assembly.  In  the  election  of  a 
new  one,  the  restrictions  upon  the  franchise  were  largely  ig 
nored,  and  a  democratic  body  was  chosen.  One  peevish  gentle 
man  declared,  "  Such  was  the  prevalency  of  Bacon's  Party  that 
they  chose,  instead  of  Freeholders,  Free  men  that  had  but 
lately  crept  out  of  the  condition  of  Servants  (which  were  never 
before  Eligible)  for  their  Burgesses." 

161.  The  new  Assembly  is  known  as  Bacon's  Assembly,  and 
its  admirable  attempts  at  reform  are  called  Bacon's  Laws. 
Manhood  suffrage  was  restored ;  a  representative  Board  was 
established  in  each  county  to  act  with  the  Justices  in  all  mat 
ters  of  taxation  and  local  legislation ;  the  exemptions  of  the 
privileged  families  were  abolished ;  fees  were  strictly  regu 
lated  ;  and  various  minor  abuses  were  corrected.1 

Bacon  himself  stood  for  an  even  more  democratic  program. 
Soon  after  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  he  held  a  convention 
of  his  party  at  "  the  Middle  Plantation,"  and  there  issued  a 
proclamation  in  the  name  of  "  the  Commons  of  Virginia," 
signing  it  "  Nath  Bacon,  Gen'l  By  the  Consent  of  the  People." 
This  document  (Source  Book,  No.  107)  denounced  the  group  of 
Berkeley's  favorites  as  "  sponges "  that  had  sucked  up  the 


1  See  Source  Book,  No.  106,  for  these  laws.    Cf.  also  No.  108  for  explana 
tions  by  the  counties  after  the  Rebellion  had  been  crushed. 


132  VIRGINIA,   1660-1690  [§  162 

public  treasure,  and  as  "juggling  parasites,"  and  declared  all 
who  sheltered  them  to  be  "  traitors  to  the  people" 

162.  While  Bacon  was  still  in  full  tide  of  success,  a  sudden 
fever  carried  him  off  —  and  the  Rebellion  collapsed,  for  want  of 
a  leader.     Berkeley  took  a  shameful  vengeance,  until  removed 
by  the  disgusted  King.     At  the  King's  command,  the  next  As 
sembly  declared  all  "  Bacon's  laws  "  void ;   and  so  the  "  free 
hold"  franchise  was  restored,  —  to  continue  two  centuries.1 

163.  Henceforth  all  leadership  belonged  to  the  small  class  of 
great  planters.     Each  man  of  this  class  was  not  merely  a  coun 
try  gentleman,  supervising  the  farming  of  large  estates :   he 
was  also  a  merchant,  with  huge  warehouses  and  with  agents  in 
England.     He  sold  in  England  not  only  his  own  tobacco,  but 
also  much  of  that  of  the  small  planters  about  him ;  and,  in 
return,  he   imported  all   manufactured  articles   used   on   his 
plantations  and  on  theirs,  except  the  simple  implements  turned 
out  by  the   plantation's  own  carpenter  and  blacksmith.     He 
was  also  a  lawyer,  and  a  leader  in  society  and  in  politics.     He 
was  usually  one  of  the  ruling  "  Justices  "  of  his  county,  and 
one  of  the  vestry  of  his  parish ;  and,  if  he  did  not  sit  in  the 
governor's  Council,  he  was  pretty  sure  to  be  a  Burgess  —  or  at 
least  to  control  the  election  of  a  Burgess. 

164.  Much  has  been  said  above  (§  155)  on  the  admirable 
qualities  of  this  ruling  class.     One  darker  feature  remains  to  be 
made  plain.     These  men  gave  a  large  part  of  their  time  to  the 
public  service,  and  none  of  their  offices  had  salaries.     In  time  of 
public  peril,  too,  they  were  always  ready  to  give  fortune  and  life 
freely  for  the  public  need.     But  in  ordinary  times,  many  of  them 
paid  themselves  indirectly  for  their  devotion  to  the  public  service 
by  What  would  to-day  be  called  graft.     They  controlled  the  politi 
cal  machinery ;  and  they  saw  nothing  wrong  in  filling  their  pock 
ets,  and  their  friends'  pockets,  out  of  the  public  resources. 

1  In  1736  a  "  freehold  "  for  voting  purposes  was  defined  to  be  the  owner 
ship  of  100  acres  of  wild  land,  or  50  acres  of  improved  land,  or  a  house  and 
lot  in  a  town,  —  the  house  to  be  not  less  than  24  feet  square.  Just  before  the 
American  Revolution,  these  requirements  were  cut  down  one  half. 


§  166]       THE  ARISTOCRACY  RE-ESTABLISHED  133 

Taxes  were  paid  commonly  in  tobacco.  The  "  Receiver  "  was 
some  one  of  the  coterie  of  great  planters.  It  was  easy  for  him 
to  accept  from  friends  and  other  influential  taxpayers  a  poorer 
grade  of  tobacco  than  he  would  take  from  a  smaller  planter. 
All  tobacco  so  received  was  afterward  sold  for  the  treasury.  The 
English  government  tried  earnestly  to  have  the  Receiver  sell  at 
auction ;  but  he  usually  managed  to  sell  "  by  private  arrange 
ment  "  —  often  at  a  half  or  a  third  of  the  market  value  —  to 
friends  or  associates.  It  was  by  so  holding  together  and  exchang 
ing  "  favors  "  that  the  aristocracy  maintained  their  power. 

165.  Especially  was  the  public  land  a  source  of  private  riches.    Gov 
ernor  and  Assembly  readily  made  grants  of  wild  land  to  almost  any 
applicant ;  but  law  required  the  grantee  to  establish  a  certain  number  of 
settlers  on  each  grant  within  ten  years  —  one  settler  to  every  hundred 
acres  —  or  the  grant  had  to  be  declared  forfeited.     To  locate  and  survey 
a  tract  cost  somewhat,  and  to  "settle"  a  large  tract  was  impossible 
except  to  the  wealthy.     And  the  wealthiest  had  ways  to  shift  this  burden. 

In  1688,  Colonel  William  Byrd  secured  a  grant  of  more  than  three 
thousand  acres.  He  failed  to  "settle  "it;  but  he  was  the  chief  officer  of 
the  colonial  landoffice,  and  he  managed  to  keep  back  the  declaration  of 
forfeiture  until  1701.  Then  the  tract  was  re-granted  at  once  to  his  close 
friend,  Nathaniel  Harrison,  who,  after  a  decent  interval,  deeded  it  back 
to  Byrd  for  another  ten  years'  chance  to  settle.  Another  time,  Byrd  got 
nearly  six  thousand  acres ;  and  having  failed  to  settle  in  the  ten  years, 
he  had  it  transferred  to  his  son.  These  grants  were  the  foundation  of  one 
of  the  greatest  Virginia  family  estates. 

166.  The  small  farmer  in  Virginia,  after  Bacon's  failure,  had 
only  one  political  power :  once  a  year  or  once  in  two  years  he 
could  vote  for  a  member  of  the  Assembly.     Elections  took 
place  at  the  county  courts,  and  became  social  gatherings  also, 
with  feasting  and  sports  —  wrestling,  running,  shooting  at  the 
mark  —  and  sometimes  with  brutal  rough-and-tumble  fights. 
The   speechmaking  at   these  gatherings  by  rival   candidates 
afforded  no  mean  political  training ;  and  as  large  a  part  of  the 
free  White  population  came  out  to  vote  in  Virginia  as  in  New 
England.     But  the  common   Virginia  farmer  voted  on  a  much 
smaller  range  of  matters,  and  much  less  often,  than  the  common 


134  VIRGINIA,   1660-1690  [§  167 

New  England  farmer.  The  common  Virginian  had  no  voice  in 
the  many  questions  of  local  government  that  were  discussed 
and  settled  in  the  New  England  town  meeting,  nor  any  part 
even  in  choosing  local  officials  —  which  was  so  large  a  part  of 
New  England  politics. 

167.  Excursus:  The  Virginia  County  and  the  New  England 
Town.  —  After  1691  (§  153),  the  central  governments  of  Massa 
chusetts  and  Virginia  grew  more  and  more  alike,  but  the  local 
governments  grew  farther  and  farther  apart ;  and  the  influence  of 
local  government  upon  society  is  so  great  that  Virginia  as  a  whole 
grew  more  aristocratic,  and  Massachusetts  more  democratic. 

We  have  traced  the  story  of  the  development  of  the  two 
types  of  local  government ;  but  we  ought  also  to  notice 
that  the  difference  between  them  was  largely  based  on  physical 
differences  between  the  two  colonies  (§§  2,  3).  In  Virginia  the 
soil,  climate,  and  products  made  it  profitable  to  cultivate  large 
plantations  by  cheap  labor  under  overseers.  In  Massachusetts, 
with  its  sterile  soil,  farming  was  profitable  only  when  a  man 
tilled  his  own  ground,  with  at  most  one  or  two  servants  work 
ing  under  his  own  eyes.  In  Virginia,  therefore,  population 
became  scattered,  while  in  New  England  it  remained  grouped  in 
little  farm  villages.  In  Virginia,  the  people  could  not  easily 
come  together  for  effective  action.  The  county  became  the 
political  unit,  and  control  fell  naturally  to  the  wealthy  planters 
in  small  Boards.  New  England  had  no  counties  for  some 
time,  and  then  only  for  judicial  districts.  The  town  remained 
the  political  unit;  and  all  the  people  of  the  town  came  to 
gether  frequently,  to  take  part  in  matters  that  concerned  their 
common  life.  The  Virginia  type  of  local  government  developed 
the  most  remarkable  group  of  leaders  that  the  worldm  has  ever 
seen.  The  New  England  type  trained  a  whole  people  to  democracy 
by  constant  practice  at  their  own  doors.1 

1  The  Middle  colonies,  whose  story  we  take  up  in  the  next  chapter,  de 
veloped  an  intermediate  type  of  local  government  with  both  towns  and 
counties ;  and  this  mixed  type  became  the  common  one  in  most  of  the  West 
at  a  laterday  (American  History  and  Government,  §  76). 


170] 


NEW  YORK  TO   1690 


135 


EXERCISE.  —  A  freeholder  came  of  age  in  1661  in  Virginia:  how  old 
must  he  have  been  before  he  could  cast  his  first  vote?  (§  156.)  Let 
members  of  the  class  propose  lists  of  questions  on  this  chapter  so  far, 
naming  the  "sections"  of  this  book  or  the  "numbers11  in  the  Source 
Book  where  answers  may  be  found.  Compare  §  167  with  §§  2  and  3. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — Andrews,  Colonial  Self-Government,  202- 
231,  or  Channing,  II,  82-91,  or  Becker,  Beginnings,  71-80.  Fiske's  Old 
Virginia  (II,  1-130,  174-267)  gives  a  delightful  but  longer  treatment. 
The  Source  Book  contains  much  material :  No.  108,  not  referred  to  in 
notes  above,  is  especially  valuable. 


IV.     NEW  COLONIES,  1660-1690 

168.  New  Jersey  was  part  of  the  territory  conquered  from 
the  Dutch  (§  145).     Soon  after  1660,  too,  the  beginnings  of 
settlement  were  made  in  the  Carolinas.     In  both  districts  the 
settlers  waged  sturdy  constitutional  struggles  for  self-govern 
ment,  ignoring  or  opposing  the  proprietary  claims.     The  story 
cannot '  be   told    here.     Some 

features  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  history,  however, 
demand  attention. 

169.  While  New  York  was 
the  Dutch  New  Netherlands,  the 
people  had  no  self-government 
whatever.     The  colony  was  a 
huge    plantation    (like    early 
Virginia)  under  the  arbitrary 
rule  of  the  "  Director  General " 


THE  "  HALF  MOON  "  in  which  Henry 
Hudson  sailed  up  the  river  named 
for  him,  laying  the  basis  for  the 
Dutch  claim.  From  an  old  Dutch 
drawing. 


and  his  Council,  appointed 
in  Holland.  There  were  a 
number  of  great  landlords 
(patroons)  in  the  colony ;  and, 
in  local  affairs,  each  patroon 
had  great  authority  over  the  villages  of  settlers  on  his  lands. 
170.  The  only  promising  movement  for  self-government  under 
Dutch  rule  came  from  English  immigrants.  Four  English  towns 
had  been  established  on  Long  Island  while  it  was  claimed  by 


136 


NEW  YORK  TO   1690 


[§  171 


Connecticut.  These  afterwards  passed  under  the  rule  of  New 
Netherlands.  In  1653  a  meeting  of  representatives  from  va 
rious  parts  of  the  colony  was  held,  to  demand  from  Director 
Stuyvesant  a  measure  of  self-government.  This  meeting  was 
inspired  by  the  English  towns,  and  it  was  dominated  by  their 
delegates.  The  "  remonstrance  "  to  Stuyvesant  was  drawn  in 
the  English  language ;  the  signatures  are  largely  English 
names ;  and  the  document  contains  the  democratic  English 
phrases  of  that  day.  Stuyvesant,  in  explaining  the  matter  to 
the  authorities  in  Holland,  wrote  :  "  It  ought  to  be  remembered 
that  the  Englishmen,  who  are  the  authors  and  leaders  in  these 

innovations,  enjoy  more 
privileges  than  the  Ex 
emptions  of  New  Nether 
lands  grant  to  any  Hol 
lander." 

171.  Before  true  repre 
sentative  government  grew 
out  of  this  agitation,  came 
the  English  conquest  of 
New  Amsterdam  in  1664. 
King  Charles  gave  the 
conquered  province  to  his 
brother  James,  Duke  of 
York,  for  whom  it  was  re 
named.  The  population 
was  mainly  non-English; 
and,  as  a  conquered  people, 
it  had  no  constitutional 
claim  to  political  rights. 
Accordingly,  the  charter 
to  James  said  nothing  of 
any  share  by  the  people  in  the  government. 

In  spite  of  this,  the  governor,  Nichols,  found  himself  obliged 
to  satisfy  the  Long  Island  towns  by  promising  them  privileges 
"equal  to  those  in  the  New  England  colonies,"  and  it  soon 


WILLIAM  PBNN  AT  22  (before  his  conver 
sion).  From  the  painting  by  Sir  Peter 
Lely,  now  in  the  gallery  of  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Historical  Society. 


§  173]  PENNSYLVANIA  TO   1700  137 

proved  necessary  to  introduce  a  representative  Assembly  (1682). 
Down  to  the  Eevolution,  however,  the  governor  had  more 
extensive  prerogatives  in  New  York  than  in  any  other  colony. 

172.  Early  Pennsylvania  owed  more  to  William  Penn  than 
any  other  colony  did  to  its  proprietor.     Penn  is  one  of  the  strik 
ing  figures  in  history.     Son  of  a  famous  and  wealthy  English 
admiral  who  had  added  Jamaica  to  England's  colonies  (§  133), 
he  risked  his  inheritance,  as  well  as  all  prospect  of  worldly 
promotion,  in  order  to  join  the  Quakers.     Happily  for   the 
world,  his  resources  were  not  taken  from  him  after  all,  and  he 
kept  the  warm  friendship  of  men  so  different  from  himself  as 
the  royal  brothers,  Charles  and  James. 

Through  this  friendship,  Penn  was  selected  to  help  some 
Quaker  proprietors  organize  the  colony  of  New  Jersey,  and 
thereby  he  became  interested  in  trying  a  "  Holy  Experiment " 
in  a  colony  of  his  own.  The  Council  for  colonial  affairs  (§  134) 
had  already  become  jealous  of  proprietary  grants ;  but  James 
readily  gave  him  the  old  Swedish  settlements  on  the  Delaware. 
Penn,  however,  wished  a  still  freer  field  to  work  in,  and  soon 
he  secured  from  King  Charles,  in  consideration  of  a  large  debt 
due  him  from  the  crown,  a  grant  of  wild  territory  west  of  the 
Delaware  between  New  York  and  Maryland. 

Owing  to  geographical  ignorance,  the  grant  conflicted  with  those  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  especially  with  those  of  New  York 
and  Maryland.  The  adjustment  with  Maryland  was  not  finally  accom 
plished  until  1767,  when  Mason  and  Dixon,  two  English  surveyors,  ran 
the  boundary  line  that  goes  by  their  name  —  commonly  referred  to  in  later 
history  as  the  dividing  line  between  North  and  South. 

173.  Penn's  charter  of  1680  (Source  Book,  No.   102)  gave 
him  proprietary  power  like  that  of  Baltimore  in  Maryland, 
with  some  limitations.     Settlers  were  guaranteed  the  right  of 
appeal  from  colonial  courts  to  the  king  in  council,  and  all 
colonial  laws  were  to  be  subject  to  a  royal  veto.     The  Quaker 
colony  was  required  to  tolerate  the  established  English  church, 
and  especial  emphasis  was  placed  upon  obedience  to  the  navi 
gation  laws.    A  unique  clause  renounced  all  authority  on  the 


138 


PENNSYLVANIA  TO   1700 


[§174 


part  of  the  crown  to  tax  the  colonists  without  the  consent  of  the 
Assembly  or  of  Parliament,  —  an  indirect  assertion  that  Parlia 
ment  might  tax  the  colony.1 

174.  Pennsylvania  knew  none  of  the  desperate  hardships  that 
make  so  large  a  part  of  the  story  of  the  earlier  colonies.  The 
wealthy  Quakers  of  England  and  Wales  helped  the  enterprise 
cordially,  and  the  Mennonites  (a  German  sect  somewhat  re- 


PBNN'S  TREATY  WITH  THE  INDIANS  FOB  THE  PURCHASE  OF  PENNSYL 
VANIA.  From  the  imaginative  painting  by  Benjamin  West,  now  in  Inde 
pendence  Hall,  Philadelphia. 

sembling  Quakers)  poured  in  a  large  and  industrious  immigra 
tion.  In  1687  one  of  their  settlements  voiced  the  first  protest 
in  America  against  slavery  :  "  Those  who  steal  or  rob  men,  and 
those  who  buy  or  purchase  them,  —  are  they  not  all  alike? 
Here  is  liberty  of  conscience  .  .  .  and  here  ought  to  be  likewise 
liberty  of  the  body.  ...  To  bring  men  hither  or  to  robb  or  sell 
them  against  their  will,  we  stand  against." 

There  were  no  Indian  troubles,  thanks  to  Penn's  wise  and  just 
policy  with  the  natives.  Population  increased  rapidly,  and 

1  The  Delaware  settlements  were  not  covered  by  the  charter.  For  them  a 
separate  form  of  government  was  devised,  though  they  belonged  to  the  same 
proprietor. 


§  175]  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  139 

material  prosperity  was  unbroken.  By  1700  (when  only  twenty 
years  old)  the  colony  stood  next  to  Virginia  and  Massachusetts 
in  wealth  and  numbers.  Unlike  other  colonies,  except  con 
quered  New  York,  the  population  was  at  least  half  non-English 
from  the  first,  —  Welsh,  German,  Swedes,  Dutch,  French, 
Danes,  and  Finns. 

175.  Penn  took  no  thought  to  extend  his  own  powers.  His 
ideas,  for  the  time,  were  broad  and  noble. 

"The  nations  want  a  precedent  for  a  just  and  righteous  government,1' 
he  wrote.  ...  "  The  people  must  rule."  And  again,  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  "I  propose  ...  to  leave  myself  and  my  successors  no  power  of 
doing  mischief  —  that  the  will  of  one  man  may  not  hinder  the  good  of  a 
whole  country."  To  the  expected  settlers  he  proclaimed  (1681),  "You 
shall  be  governed  by  laws  of  your  own  making,  and  live  a  free  and,  if  you 
will,  a  sober  and  industrious  people." 

The  first  "  Frame  of  Government "  granted  by  Penn  to  the 
colonists  was  very  liberal,  but  it  was  clumsy ;  and  even  with 
a  proprietor  so  unselfish  and  settlers  so  good,  politics  were 
confused  by  bitter  quarrels  for  some  years.  Finally  Penn 
substituted  for  that  first  charter  to  the  settlers  a  new  funda 
mental  law,  the  Charter  of  1701  (Source  Book,  103  b).  The 
colonists  accepted  this  by  formal  compact,  and  it  remained 
the  constitution  of  Pennsylvania  until  1776. 

The  governor  was  appointed  by  the  proprietor,  and  had  a 
veto  upon  all  legislation.  He  was  aided  by  an  appointed  Coun 
cil,  —  which  body  was  not  part  of  the  legislature.  The  people 
chos'e  a  one-House  Assembly  each  year.  TJiis  body  had  com 
plete  control  over  its  own  sittings :  the  charter  fixed  a  date  for 
the  annual  meeting,  and  provided  that  the  Assembly  should 
be  dissolved  only  by  its  own  vote.  Freedom  of  conscience  was 
guaranteed  to  all  who  believed  in  "  one  Almighty  God  " ;  and 
the  franchise  was  given  to  all  who  accepted  Christ  as  the 
"  Savior  of  the  World  " l  and  who  owned  50  acres  of  land  or 
£  50  personal  estate. 

1  Pennsylvania  was  the  only  colony  in  which  Roman  Catholics  had  political 
rights  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Rhode  Island  disfranchised  them  in  1719. 


140  SUMMARY  FOR   1660-1690  [§  176 

The  provision  for  religious  freedom  was  declared  not  subject 
to  amendment.  All  other  parts  of  the  charter  could  be  amended 
by  the  joint  action  of  the  proprietor  and  six  sevenths  of  the 
Assembly.  This  was  the  first  written  constitution  to  provide,  a 
definite  machinery  for  its  own  amendment. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States,  II, 
94-129,  313-340,  and  Andrews'  Colonial  Self-Government,  75-128,  162- 
201.  Some  student  may  be  asked  to  report  upon  Leisler's  Rebellion  in 
New  York,  especially  if  Fiske's  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  is  accessible. 

EXERCISE.  — Name  ten  dates  in  the  seventeenth  century  worthy  of 
memorization.  Point  out  which  ones  stand  for  some  important  relation 
between  American  and  English  history. 

V.     SUMMARY  FOR   THE   PERIOD    1660-1690 

176.  The  "Restoration"  of  Charles  II  began  a  new  era  for 
the  English  race ;   but   the  two   divisions   of  Englishmen   on 
opposite  sides  of  the  Atlantic  met  very  different  fates.     In 
England  itself,  the  second  Stuart  period   (1660-1688)  was  a 
time  of  infamy  and  peril.     In  America,  it  was  singularly  pro 
gressive  and  attractive.     For  the  first  time  the  government  of 
the  home  land  took  an  active  part  in  fostering  the  plantations  ; 
and  the  separate  colonies  first  began  to  have  a  common  history. 

177.  Three  great  characteristics  marked  the  period :  — 
English  territory  in  America  was  greatly  expanded. 

The  English  government  established  its  first  real  "colonial 
department"  to  regulate  colonial  affairs  and  to  draw  the  planta 
tions  into  a  closer  dependence  upon  England. 

This  new  attitude  of  the  home  government,  both  in  its  wise 
and  unwise  applications,  stirred  the  colonists  to  a  new  insistence 
upon  their  rights  of  self-government. 

Thus  there  developed  an  "irrepressible  conflict"  between  the  natural 
and  wholesome  English  demand  for  imperial  unity  and  the  even  more 
indispensable  American  demand  for  local  freedom.  Of  this  struggle  the 
most  picturesque  episodes  are  Bacon's  Rebellion  in  Virginia  and  the 
Andros  incident  in  New  England.  The  conflict  was  intensified  by  evil 
traits  on  both  sides,  —  by  the  personal  despotic  inclinations  of  James  II 


§  178]  SELF-GOVERNMENT  SAVED  141 

and  of  some  of  his  agents  in  the  colonies,  and  by  pettiness  and  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  the  colonists ;  and  each  party  was  blind  to  the  good  on 
the  other  side.  Still  the  unconquerable  determination  of  the  colonists  to 
manage  their  own  affairs,  even  though  inspired  in  part  by  narrow  prejudice,  is 
the  central  fact  of  the  period.  If  we  mark  the  period  by  one  phrase  we 
may  best  call  it  the  era  of  the  struggle  to  save  self-government 

178.  During  this  period,  too,  the  view-point  for  our  history 
is  shifting.  Until  1660,  the  colonists  are  Englishmen  —  enter 
prising  Englishmen  busied  in  establishing  themselves  on  scat 
tered  outlying  frontiers.  After  1690,  they  are  Americans  — 
colonial  Americans,  it  is  true,  dependent  still  upon  England 
partly  from  custom,  partly  from  affection,  and  largely  from 
need  of  protection  against  the  French  on  the  north. 

TJie  three  marks  of  the  period  treated  in  tfyis  chapter  (§  177) 
are  all  found,  intensified,  in  the  next  seventy  years,  —  with  the 
addition  of  one  new  element,  the  incessant  war  with  the  French 
and  Indians.  The  story  of  the  present  chapter  is  continued 
directly  in  the  next. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

"COLONIAL  AMERICANS,"  1690-1763 

I.    MATERIAL   GROWTH 

179.  Despite  the  frequent  wars,  the  seventy  years  between  the 
English  Revolution  and  the  American  Revolution  (1690-1760)  were 
a  period  of  marvelous  prosperity  for  the  colonies.  The  older  dis 
tricts  grew  from  straggling  frontiers  into  rich  and  powerful  com 
munities  marked  tiy  self-reliance  and  intense  local  patriotism. 
A  new  colony,  Georgia,  was  added  on  the  south  (1732),  and  new 
frontiers  were  thrown  out  on  the  west.  Population  rose  sixfold 
-from  250,000  (§132)  to  1,600,000;  and  large  non-English 
elements  appeared,  especially  in  the  middle  colonies. 

The  most  numerous  of  these  were  the  German  Protestants, 
driven  from  their  homes  in  South  Germany  by  religious  perse~ 
cution  and  by  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  The  French  armies  in 
these  wars  deliberately  depopulated  large  districts.  A  striking 
paragraph  of  Macaulay's  tells  the  fate  of  one  Ehine  province  :  — 

' '  The  commander  announced  to  near  half  a  million  human  beings  that 
he  granted  them  three  days'  grace  .  .  .  Soon  the  roads  and  fields  were 
blackened  by  innumerable  multitudes  of  men,  women,  and  children  flying 
from  their  houses.  .  .  .  The  flames  went  up  from  every  market  place, 
every  parish  church,  every  county  seat." 

The  survivors  of  such  devastation  made  the  first  German 
immigrants  to  America.  This  immigration  began  to  arrive  about 
1690.  It  went  mainly  to  New  York  and  the  Carolinas  and 
especially  to  Pennsylvania  (§  173).  To  the  latter  colony  alone 
more  than  100,000  Germans  came  between  1700  and  1775.  A 
smaller  but  highly  valuable  contribution  to  American  blood 
was  made  by  the  Huguenots,  driven  from  France  after  1683  by 

142 


§  180] 


NEW  FRONTIERS 


143 


the  persecution  of  Louis  XIV.  They  came  mainly  to  the 
Caroliiias ;  but  some  settled  in  New  England,  New  York,  and 
Virginia.  The  names  Paul  Revere,  Peter  Faneuil,  and  Governor 
Bowdoin  suggest  the  services  of  their  sons  in  Massachusetts. 

180.  Another  immigration  of  this  period  belongs  especially 
to  a  new  section  —  the  Scotch-Irish  settlement  in  the  "West." 
The  first  frontier  in 
America  was  the  "  tide 
water  "  region,  extending 
some  fifty  miles  up  the 
navigable  streams.  Near 
the  mouth  of  such  rivers, 
or  on  the  harbors  along 
the  coast,  arose  the  first 
line  of  cities,  —  Boston, 
Portsmouth,  Providence, 
New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Annapolis,  Charleston. 
By  1660  (that  is,  by  the 
end  of  the  first  half  cen 
tury  of  colonization), 
when  the  first  frontier 
had  been  transformed 
into  settled  areas,  a  sec 
ond  thin  frontier  had 
pushed  on  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles  farther  inland,  to  the  eastern 
foothills  of  the  Appalachians.  Here,  during  the  next  half  cen 
tury,  at  the  head  of  navigation  and  on  sites  of  abundant  water 
power,  appeared  a  second  line  of  towns,  —  Trenton,  Princeton, 
Richmond,  Raleigh,  Columbia. 

So  far,  frontier  had  kept  in  touch  with  settled  area.  But, 
about  1700,  a  third  frontier  leaped  the  first  range  of  mountains, 
into  the  long,  narrow  valleys  running  north  and  south  between 
the  Alleghenies  and  the  Blue  Ridge,  leaving  a  hundred  miles  of 
tangled  wilderness  between  itself  and  civilization.  This  region 
was  the  beginning  of  a  new  "  section  "  in  our  history.  It  was 


THE  WATERCOURSE  FALL  LINE. 


144  COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1690-1763  [§  180 

our  first  "West."  Moreover,  it  was  made  by  a  neiv  type  of 
American  settler,  the  Presbyterian  Scotch-Irish.  These  were  really 
neither  Scotch  nor  Irish  in  blood,  but  Saxon  English.  For 
centuries  their  fathers  had  lived  in  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland 
as  frontiersmen  against  the  Celtic  Scots  of  the  Highlands.  In 
the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  they  had  colonized  north 
eastern  Ireland,  —  frontiersmen  against  the  Catholic  and  Celtic 
Irish.  But  after  the  English  Revolution,  the  new  navigation 
laws  crushed  their  linen  manufactures,  —  the  chief  basis  of 
their  prosperity  there,  —  and  the  English  laws  against  the 
Irish  Catholics  bore  heavily  also  upon  these  Presbyterian  "  dis 
senters  "  from  the  English  Church.  So,  about  1700,  with  hearts 
embittered  toward  England,  they  began  once  more  to  seek  new 
homes,  —  this  time  in  America.  In  both  Scotland  and  Ireland 
there  had  been  some  mixture  of  blood,  but  the  dominant  strain 
was  still  English. 

TJie  volume  of  this  immigration  increased  rapidly,  and  it  has 
been  estimated  that  between  1720  and  1750  it  amounted  to  an 
average  of  12,000  a  year.  In  numbers  and  in  significance,  the 
Presbyterian  English  of  the  West  rank  in  our  nation-making  along 
side  the  Episcopalian  English  of  Virginia  and  the  Congregational 
English  of  New  England. 

Non-English  elements  have  played  a  great  part  in  the  making  of 
America.  In  the  colonial  day,  Frenchman,  Dutchman,  German,  gave  us 
much  of  our  blood  and  even  our  thought ;  and  later,  Norseman,  German, 
Irishman,  and,  last  of  all,  Slav  and  Latin,  have  made  the  sinews  of  our 
national  life.  But  after  all,  the  forces  that  have  shaped  that  life  have  been 
English,  —  especially  the  three  English  elements  just  mentioned. 

The  Scotch-Irish  came  to  America  mainly  through  the  ports 
of  Philadelphia  in  the  north  and  Charleston  in  the  south. 
Many  stopped  in  the  settled  areas ;  but  a  steady  stream  passed 
on  directly  to  the  mountains  and  over  them.  Reaching  the 
Appalachian  valleys  in  the  far  north  and  south,  the  two  currents 
drifted  toward  each  other,  until  they  met  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  in  western  Virginia.  And  thence,  just  before  the 
American  Revolution,  under  leaders  like  Boone  and  Robertson, 


§  181]  CONQUEST   OF  NEW  FRANCE  145 

they  began  to  break  through  the  western  wall,  to  make  a  fourth 
frontier  at  the  western  foothills  and  farther  west,  in  what  we 
now  call  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

Until  about  1850,  the  Scotch-Irish  were  the  typical  American  frontiers 
men,  especially  in  the  great  middle  West  and  Southwest.  They  showed  a 
marvelous  power  to  assimilate  other  elements  that  mingled  with  them,  — 
German,  French,  Welsh,  and  even  the  real  Irish  and  real  Scotch,  when 
these  came,  in  small  numbers,  just  before  the  Revolution.  They  have 
furnished  too,  many  leaders  to  our  national  life,  — such  as  Andrew  Jack 
son  and  "  Stonewall  "  Jackson,  Horace  Greeley,  Jefferson  Davis,  Patrick 
Henry,  William  McKinley,  Woodrow  Wilson. 

Unlike  the  country  east  of  the  mountains,  this  new  "  West " 
had  its  real  unity  from  north  to  south.  Politically,  it  is  true, 
the  settlers  were  divided  by  the  old  established  colonial  boundary 
lines,  running  east  and  west ;  but,  from  New  York  to  Georgia, 
the  people  of  this  frontier  were  one  in  race,  religion,  and  habits 
of  life,  —  hard,  dogged  farmers,  reckless  fighters  and  hunters, 
tall  and  sinewy  of  frame,  saturnine,  restless,  dauntless  of 
temper.  Other  immigrants  to  the  New  World  had  forced 
themselves  into  the  wilderness,  for  high  reasons,  with  gallant 
resolution,  against  natural  inclination.  But  these  men  loved  the 
wild  for  itself.  Unorganized  and  uncap tained,  armed  only  with 
ax  and  rifle  (in  the  use  of  which  weapons  they  have  never  been 
equaled),  they  rejoiced  grimly  in  their  task  of  subduing  a  con 
tinent.  First  of  American  colonists,  too,  did  they  in  earnest 
face  away  from  the  Old  World  in  their  thought,  and  begin  to 
look  west  toward  the  glorious  destiny  of  the  new  continent. 

II.  THE  CONQUEST  OF  NEW  FRANCE 

181.  From  1689  to  1763,  with  only  short  pauses  for  breath, 
France  and  England  wrestled  for  the  splendid  prize  of  the  Missis 
sippi  Valley.  This  incessant  war  with  the  French  and  their 
dread  Eed  allies  made  a  somber  background  for  all  other  move 
ments  in  the  English  colonies.  It  was  never  for  a  moment  to 
be  forgotten  by  the  daring  frontiersman  who  shifted  his  home 


146  COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1690-1763  [§  182 

in  search  of  better  and  cheaper  land,  or  by  the  Assemblyman 
who  wrangled  with  a  royal  governor  for  larger  self-government. 

For  the  most  part  the  campaigns  were  fought  on  European 
fields  (Modern  World,  §§  470-497) ;  but  at  bottom  the  conflict 
was  not  determined  on  the  battlefield.  Two  systems  of  coloniza 
tion  were  at  war  in  America ;  and  free  individualism  won  over 
despotic  centralization  (§  16).  A  despotic  French  governor 
could  wield  effectively  all  the  resources  of  New  France,  • — 
though  this  advantage  was  offset  in  part  by  the  corruption  that 
always  threatens  such  a  system ; l  while  among  the  English, 
dissensions  between  colony  and  colony,  and,  within  a  given 
colony,  between  governor  and  Assembly,  many  times  cost  dear. 
But  in  the  long  run,  the  despotic  governor  proved  no  match  for  the 
democratic  town  meeting.  Had  the  French  ever  succeeded  in  seiz 
ing  Boston,  they  could  never  have  held  it  —  not  even  as  long  as 
King  George  did  a  few  years  later.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Eng 
lish  needed  only  one  decisive  victory.  For,  despite  the  noble 
patriotism  of  a  few  great  French  leaders,  the  mass  of  French 
colonists  had  too  little  political  activity  to  care  greatly  what 
country  they  belonged  to,  provided  only  they  were  treated 
decently. 

182.  The  closing  chapter  of  the  struggle  was  "the  Great 
French  War"  of  1754-1763,  often  called  "the  French  and  In 
dian  War."  Here  the  interest  centers  around  two  heroic 
antagonists,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe.  All  grade  students  know 
the  romantic  story.  England's  command  of  the  seas  made  it 
impossible  for  France  to  send  Montcalm  the  reinforcements  he 
pled  for;  and  Wolfe's  victory  at  Quebec  settled  forever  the 
fate  of  the  continent. 

By  the  final  treaties  of  1763,  England  received  Florida  from 
Spain,  and  Canada  and  the  eastern  half  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  from  France.  The  rest  of  the  valley  France  ceded  to 
her  ally  Spain,  and,  except  for  some  West  India  Islands,  she 
ceased  herself  to  be  an  American  power.  North  America  was 

1  Canada,  says  Parkman,  "  was  the  prey  of  official  jackals."  For  illustra 
tions,  see  Thwaites'  France  in  America,  220-221. 


1664-1689 


1713-1754 


EUROPEAN  POSSESSIONS 

IN 
AMERICA,  1664-1775 


English 
|  ]  French 

|  |  Spanish 


§  184]  NEW  NAVIGATION  ACTS  147 

left  to  the  vigorous  English  commonwealths  and  to  decaying 
Spain,  with  a  dividing  line,  temporarily,  at  the  great  central 
river.  The  continent  was  destined  to  be  English  in  speech  and 
civilization. 


III.   ENGLISH  CONTROL   VS.   AMERICAN  LIBERTY 

183.  The  seventy  years  from  the  English  Revolution  to  the 
American  Revolution  have  been  called  "a  forgotten  half  century." 
In  internal  development   there  are  no  brilliant  episodes,  no 
heroic  figures,  and  no  new  principles.     Much  was  done,  how 
ever,  in  extending  institutions  already  established.     The  central 
theme  is  the  continuance  of  that  inevitable  conflict  that  ap 
peared  in  the  preceding  period  (§  177).     Under  the  pressure  of 
ceaseless  war,  England  felt,  even  more  keenly  than  before,  the 
need  of   controlling  her  colonies ;  and  the  colonies,  realizing 
dimly  their  growing  strength,  felt  more  and  more  their  right  to 
regulate  their  own  affairs. 

The  project*  of  the  English  government  to  extend  its  influ 
ence  in  the  colonies  had  two  phases,  commercial  and  political. 

184.  Several  new  Navigation  Acts  extended  the  old  commercial 
policy  of  the  home  country.     To  the  "  enumerated  articles  "  to 
be  exported  only  through  England  (§  138),  rice  was  added  in 
1706,  and  copper,  naval  stores,1  and  beaver  skins  in  1722. 

More  important  was  a  new  kind  of  restriction  upon  American 
industry,  —  a  series  of  attempts  to  restrict  or  prohibit  manufac 
tures.  In  1696,  a  parliament  of  William  III  forbade  any  colony 
to  export,  even  to  England  or  to  any  other  colony,  any  ivoolen 
manufacture.  In  1732,  exportation  of  hats2  was  forbidden. 
Legislation  of  this  sort  had  no  such  excuse  as  the  earlier  navi 
gation  laws.  The  motive  now  was  plain  jealousy  on  the  part 
of  English  manufacturers. 

1  England  compensated  the  colonies  by  paying  generous  bounties  upon  such 
materials  sent  to  her. 

2  Making  hats  from  beaver  skins  had  been  a  prominent  industry  in  somt 
northern  colonies  and  in  Pennsylvania. 


148 


ATTEMPTS  AT  ENGLISH  CONTROL 


[§  184 


Bad  as  this  was,  the  restrictions  upon  manufacturing  so  far 
were  indirect :  no  colony  had  been  forbidden  to  make  any  article 
for  its  own  consumption.  But  in  1750  (almost  at  the  close  of  the 
period)  the  erection  or  use  of  iron  mills  was  prohibited  altogether. 
Unlike  the  unpleasant  features  of  the  earlier  commercial  restric 
tions,  too,  this  law  could  not  be  evaded.  The  half  dozen  iron 


COLONIAL  FIREPLACE  AND  UTENSILS,  "  BROADHEARTH,"  Saugus,  Massa 
chusetts.  In  this  house,  built  in  1646,  lived  the  first  iron  founder  in 
America.  The  works  were  situated  near  by  and  were  successfully  carried 
on  for  a  hundred  years.  Cf.  page  75. 

mills  that  had  appeared  in  the  northern  colonies  were  closed, 
and  all  manufacture  of  iron  ceased,  except  for  nails,  bolts,  and 
the  simpler  household  and  farm  implements,  such  as  in  that 
day  were  turned  out  at  the  village  smithy. 

These  English  laws  of  1696,  1732,  and  1750  were  selfish  and 
sinister,  —  the  most  ominous  feature  in  all  American  colonial 
history.  They  must  have  become  bitterly  oppressive  ere  long, 
had  the  colonists  continued  under  English  rule ;  and  at  the  time 
they  fully  deserved  the  condemnation  visited  upon  them  by  the 


§  186]  ROYAL  PROVINCES  149 

great  English  economist,  Adam  Smith:  "Those  prohibitions 
are  only  impertinent  badges  of  slavery,  imposed  upon  [the  colo 
nies]  without  sufficient  reason  by  the  groundless  jealousy  of  the 
manufacturers  of  the  mother  country."  l 

185.  Another   source  of  justifiable  irritation  was  the  "Sugar 
Act"  of   1733  (Source  Book,  No.  100,  c).     This  Act  placed 
duties  on  sugar  and  molasses  from  "foreign  plantations"  so 
high  as  to  prevent  the  colonists  from  getting  these  articles  any 
longer  from  the  French  West  Indies,  except  by  smuggling. 
The   purpose  of  the   law  was  to  compel  the  colonies  on  the 
continent   to  buy  their  sugar  from  another  English  colony, 
Jamaica,  where  the  sugar  planters  were  in  financial  distress  : 
it  aimed  to  take  from  the  mass  of  American  colonists  for  the 
benefit  of  a  specially  privileged  class  of  colonists.     It  is  said 
that  the  law  was  suggested  by  a  Boston  merchant  who  owned 
plantations  in  Jamaica. 

186.  Attempts  by  the  English  government  at  closer  political 
control  first  took  the  form  of  efforts  to  make  colonies  into  royal 
provinces.     For  sixty  years  Virginia  had  been  the  only  royal 
province.     In  1685  New  York  was  added  to  this  class,  when 
its  proprietor  became  king.     William  III,  at  the  opening  of 
his  reign,  made  Massachusetts  practically  a  royal  government 
(§  153) ;  and,  by  a  stretch  of  authority,  he  cut  off  New  Hamp 
shire  from  Massachusetts  and  gave  it  that  kind  of  government. 

Then  came  a  series  of  attempts  to  change  all  colonies  into 
royal  provinces.  In  the  remaining  charter  and  proprietary 
colonies  the  Board  of  Trade  found  many  just  grounds  for  com 
plaint.  Besides  the  old  offenses  (evasion  of  navigation  laws, 
refusals  to  permit  appeals  to  England,  discrimination  against 
the  English  Church,  etc.),  the  Board  was  annoyed  by  Rhode 
Island's  stubborn  persistence  in  a  shameful  trade  with  pirates  ; 
by  the  refusal  of  Connecticut  to  let  royal  officers  command  her 

1  Unhappily  the  colonists  seem  to  have  felt  aggrieved  quite  as  much  by  the 
well-intended,  if  not  always  tactful,  efforts  of  England  to  preserve  American 
forests  from  careless  and  greedy  destruction,  and  to  prevent  the  issue  of  dis 
honest  colonial  paper  money. 


150  ATTEMPTS  AT  ENGLISH  CONTROL         •[§  187 

militia  in  war  against  the  French  ;  and  by  the  absence  in  Penn 
sylvania  and  New  Jersey  of  all  militia.  Experience  had  shown 
that  English  courts  could  not  be  depended  upon  to  annul  colo 
nial  charters  (§§  148,  152) ;  and  so,  in  1701,  the  Board  recom 
mended,  in  a  strong  paper,  that  the  eight  charter  and  proprietary 
governments  be  "  reunited  "  to  the  crown  by  act  of  parliament. 

A  bill  to  this  effect  passed  two  readings,  with  little  opposi 
tion  ;  but  the  hurried  departure  of  King  William  for  a  cam 
paign  in  Ireland  forced  a  timely  adjournment  of  parliament. 
The  following  year  another  bill  was  being  prepared,  when  the 
death  of  the  King  compelled  parliament  to  dissolve.  In  the 
next  reign  these  efforts  were  renewed.  But  time  had  been 
given  for  the  proprietors  in  England  and  the  charter  govern 
ments  in  America  to  rally  all  their  influences,  public  and  secret.1 
The  Whigs  in  parliament  had  great  respect  for  charters  and 
for  "  vested  rights  "  ;  and  the  movement  came  to  nothing. 

187.  The  English  government  then  fell  back  upon  the  early 
policy  of  William  III,  and  attacked  colonial  grants  one  by  one, 
as  occasion  offered.  Before  1730,  by  taking  advantage  of  a 
legal  flaw,  a  serious  disorder,  or  of  the  willingness  of  an  em 
barrassed  proprietor  to  sell,  it  added  New  Jersey  and  North  and 
South  Carolina  to  the  list  of  royal  provinces.  Out  of  the  last 
named,  Georgia  was  carved  for  a  proprietary  province  a  little 
later ;  but  it,  too,  soon  came  under  a  royal  government.  Down 
to  the  Revolution  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  remained  pro 
prietary,  and  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  remained  "  corpo 
rate"  colonies. 

188-  The  common  distinction  between  royal,  proprietary,  and  charter 
colonies  is  not  of  great  consequence.  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  did 
keep  their  right  to  elect  all  branches  of  their  government.  Pennsylvania, 
not  classed  as  a  charter  colony,  possessed,  through  its  grant  from  Penn, 
the  next  freest  constitution,  in  the  security  of  its  legislature  from  inter 
ruption  (§  175).  Massachusetts,  with  its  charter,  had  less  valuable  privi 
leges,  and  resembled  a  royal  province  in  all  practical  respects.  But  the 

1  The  report  of  the  Board  of  Trade  is  in  the  Source  Book  (No.  111).  Greene's 
Provincial  America  (58-62)  gives  an  excellent  account. 


§  189]  VETO  OF  KING  AND  GOVERNOR  151 

really  important  thing  about  the  colonial  governments  was  their  resemblances. 
All  had  representative  Assemblies,  with  no  small  degree  of  control  over 
their  governors  (§  189)  and  all  had  the  private  rights  of  Englishmen,  — 
jury  trial,  free  speech,  freedom  from  arbitrary  imprisonment,  —  which 
were  not  then  found  in  the  colonies  of  any  other  country. 

189.  The  next  step  in  the  new  colonial  policy  was  to  attempt 
closer  control  in  the  charter  and  proprietary  colonies :  (1)  to  re 
quire  royal  approval  for  the  appointment  of  proprietary  gover 
nors  ;  (2)  to  place  the  militia  of  charter  colonies  under  the 
command  of  a  neighboring  royal  governor ; l  (3)  to  set  up  ap 
pointed  admiralty  courts,  without  juries,  so  as  to  prevent  eva 
sion  of  the  navigation  laws ;  (4)  to  compel  colonial  courts  to 
permit  appeal  to  the  privy  council  in  England ;  (5)  to  enforce 
a  royal  veto  upon  colonial  legislation  ;  and  (6)  to  free  royal  and 
proprietary  governors  from  dependence  upon  colonial  Assemblies. 
The  last  two  points  require  some  explanation. 

(a)  In  theory,  the  king  always  possessed  a  veto,  just  as  in 
parliament ;  but,  even  in  Virginia,  so  early  a  royal  colony,  he 
rarely  exercised  it  until  after  Bacon's  Rebellion.  Thereafter, 
it  was  expressly  reserved  in  all  colonial  grants  (as  in  that  to 
Penn  and  in  the  Massachusetts  charter  of  1691),  and  the  right 
was  emphasized  in  every  commission  to  a  governor  of  a  royal 
province  (cf.  Source  Book,  No.  112).  True,  a  colonial  law  went 
into  effect  pending  adverse  royal  decision ;  but  the  veto  was  no 
mere  form.  Scores  of  important  statutes  were  disallowed, 
sometimes  after  they  had  been  in-  force  for  years.  Fifteen 
Massachusetts  laws  of  1692  were  vetoed  in  1695,  and  eight 
statutes  of  North  Carolina  as  late  as  1754. 

(&)  Even  in  a  royal  province,  the  governor  often  showed  little 
desire  to  carry  out  English  instructions  that  conflicted  with 
colonial  views.  Partly,  this  ivas  because  the  governor,  living  in 
close  touch  with  the  colonists,  was  likely  to  see  their  side  of  the 
case; 2  but  more  commonly  it  was  because  his  salary  depended  upon 

1  Special  report  on  Connecticut's  resistance  to  Governor  Fletcher  of  New 
York.    See  Johnston's  Connecticut,  and  cf.  Source  Book,  No.  Ill,  d,  for 
Fletcher's  aggrieved  letter. 

2  For  illustrations,  cf.  Berkeley's  Report  (Source  Book,  No.  104). 


152  COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1690-1760  [§  189 

his  keeping  up  a  good  understanding  with  the  colonial  legisla 
ture.  Every  governor,  in  the  words  of  a  colonist,  had  "  two  Mas 
ters,  one  who  gives  him  his  commission,  and  one  who  gives  him  his 
Pay."  If  the  Assembly  passed  a  bill  distasteful  to  the  home 
government,  the  governor  could  veto  it;  but  the  Assembly 


PETITION  OF  THE  HEIRS  OF  SIMON  BBADSTREET,  governor  of  Massachu 
setts  under  William  III,  for  the  salary  not  paid  him  by  the  Assembly. 
They  were  granted  1000  acres  of  land  to  satisfy  the  claim.  From  the 
Massachusetts  State  Archives. 

might  then  cut  down  his  salary,  or  leave  it  altogether  out  of 
the  vote  of  supply,  —  which,  according  to  good  English  custom, 
was  always  the  last  business  of  the  session. 

To  free  the  governors  from  this  dependence  upon  the  popu 
lar  will,  the  English  government  tried  for  many  years,  in  vain,  to 
secure  from  the  Assemblies  a  standing  grant  for  such  salaries. 


§  191]  GAINS   IN  FREEDOM  153 

In  1727,  Burnet,  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  laid  before  the 
Assembly  his  instructions  to  secure  from  that  body  a  fixed  grant 
of  £1000  a  year.  Refusal,  he  said,  would  be  taken  by  the 
King  as  "a  manifest  mark  of  undutiful  behavior."  On  the 
other  hand,  a  Boston  town  meeting  bluntly  called  upon  the  As 
sembly  "  to  oppose  any  bill  .  .  .  that  may  in  the  least  bear 
upon  our  natural  rights  and  charter  privileges,  which,  we  appre 
hend,  the  giving  in  to  the  King's  instructions  would  certainly  do." 

Burnet  was  popular,  as  well  as  able  ;  and  the  Assembly  voted 
him  not  £  1000,  but  £  1700,  for  one  year.  The  governor  indig 
nantly  refused  to  be  "bribed7'  into  proving  false  to  his  in 
structions.  The  Assembly  raised  their  offer,  still  in  vain.  For 
three  years  the  struggle  continued.  Then  a  new  governor,  in 
want  of  money,  petitioned  the  crown  to  allow  him  to  receive  the 
annual  grant  temporarily.  The  English  government  assented, 
and  Massachusetts  had  won. 

190.  To  the  credit  of  the  rnonarchs,  no  attempt  was  made, 
in  this  long  contest,  to  suppress  any  colonial  Assembly.     Indeed, 
while  the  English  government  did  in  some  respects  extend  its 
powers  in  the  colonies,  still  the  Assemblies  also  made  substantial 
gains.     Everywhere  the  elected  Houses  claimed  the  powers  and 
privileges  of  the  English  House  of  Commons.     Especially  did 
they  get  more  control  over  finances.     After  long  struggles,  they 
shut  out   the   appointed  Councils   from   any  authority  over 
money  bills, ]  and,  in  each  colony,  they  created  a  Treasurer, 
not  appointed  by  the  governor,  but  elected  by  the  Assembly. 

191.  Private  rights,  too,   were   more  clearly  defined.     With 
the  approval  of  the  crown  lawyers,  the  doctrine  was  established 
that  the  Common  Law  of  England,  with  all  its  emphasis  on 
personal  liberty,  was  also  the  common  law  of  the  colonies  even 
ivithout  express  enactment.     And  at  least  one  advance  was  made 
in  the  colonies  over  English  custom  in  the  matter  of  personal 
liberty  —  namely,  a  greater  safety  for  a  free  press. 

In  1735  a  tyrannical  governor  of  New  York  removed  the 

1  Just  as  in  England,  the  appointed  and  hereditary  House  of  Lords  was  no 
longer  permitted  to  amend  or  reject  bills  of  supply. 


154  COLONIAL  AMERICANS,   1690-1760  [§  191 

chief  justice  of  the  colony  from  office  for  personal  reasons. 
John  Zenger  in  his  Weekly  Journal  published  vigorous  criticism 
of  this  action,  declaring  that,  if  unchecked,  it  threatened  slav 
ery  to  the  people.  Zenger  was  prosecuted  for  criminal  libel. 
In  England  at  that  day  such  a  prosecution,  backed  by  the  gov 
ernment,  was  sure  of  success.  In  New  York,  the  new  chief 
justice,  too,  showed  a  determination  to  secure  a  conviction. 
He  tried  to  limit  the  jury  to  deciding  only  whether  Zenger  was 
responsible  for  the  publication  (a  matter  not  denied),  reserving 
to  himself  the  decision  whether  the  words  were  punishable. 

This  was  the  custom  of  English  courts  in  such  cases  to  a 
much  later  period.1  But  Zenger's  lawyer  in  a  great  speech 
argued  that  public  criticism  is  a  necessary  safeguard  for  free 
government,  and  that,  to  prevent  the  crushing  out  of  a  legiti 
mate  and  needed  criticism,  the  jury  in  such  a  trial  must  decide 
whether  the  words  used  were  libelous  or  true. 

This  cause,  said  he,  is  "not  the  Cause  of  a  poor  Printer  alone,  nor  of 
New  York  alone,"  but  of  "every  free  Man  on  the  Main  of  America.'1 
He  called  upon  the  jury  to  guard  the  liberty  "  to  which  Nature  and  the 
Laws  of  our  Country  have  given  us  the  Right,  —  the  Liberty  of  exposing 
and  opposing  arbitrary  Power  (in  these  parts  of  the  World  at  least)  by 
speaking  and  writing  the  Truth."  "  A  free  people,^  he  exclaimed  bluntly, 
"are  not  obliged  by  any  Law  to  support  a  Governor  who  goes  about  to 
destroy  a  Province.''1 

The  jury  insisted  upon  this  right,  and  declared  Zenger  "Not 
guilty."  Gouverneur  Morris  afterward  styled  this  acquittal 
"  the  morning  star  of  that  liberty  which  subsequently  revolu 
tionized  America." 2 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — The  best  treatments  (outside  of  special 
monographs)  are  Greene's  Provincial  America,  1-80,  Channing's  second 
volume,  217-281,  and  Becker's  Beginnings,  126-200.  An  excellent  treat 
ment  of  Virginia  is  given  in  Fiske's  Old  Virginia,  II,  174-269. 

1  Cf .  Modern  World,  §  746. 

2  This  trial  was  one  of  several  at  about  the  same  time.    The  fullest  account 
in  a  general  history  is  in  Channing,  II,  475^89.    Zenger's  own  account,  re 
sembling  a  modern  "  report,"  is  reproduced  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  113. 


§  191]  RIGHT   OF  FREE   SPEECH  155 

EXERCISE.  —  1.  Classify  the  "navigation  acts"  under  three  heads 
with  subdivisions.  Why  are  the  restrictions  on  manufactures  classed  with 
navigation  acts  ? 

2.  What  are  the  two  main  subdivisions  of  the  colonial  period  9  Into 
what  two  subperiods  is  the  second  of  those  divisions  again  subdivided,  and 
by  what  ?  Write  a  brief  paragraph  upon  the  matter  of  these  divisions 
and  subdivisions,  stating  dates  for  each,  and  the  characteristic  marks. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 
COLONIAL  LIFE 

192.  Much  colonial  legislation  goes  under  the  name  of  Blue 
Laws.  The  term  signifies  either  undue  severity  in  punishing 
ordinary  crime,  or  unreasonable  interference  with  personal 
liberty. 

In  the  first  sense  (that  of  bloody  laws),  the  colonists  could 
not  be  blamed  by  Europeans  of  their  day.  Everywhere,  life 
was  still  harsh  and  cruel ;  but  American  legislation  was  more 
humane  and  rational  than  that  of  England  or  France.  True, 
many  barbarities  did  survive.  The  pillory  and  whipping  post 
(with  clipping  of  ears)  were  in  universal  use.  As  late  as  1748, 
a  Virginian  law  (Source  Book,  No.  115)  required  every  parish 
to  have  these  instruments  ready,  and  suggested  also  a  ducking 
stool  for  "brabbling  women."  Prison  life  was  unspeakably 
foul  and  horrible.  Death  was  the  penalty  for  many  deeds  not 
now  considered  capital  crimes  in  any  civilized  land  ; l  and 
many  punishments  seem  to  us  ingeniously  repulsive,  such  as 
branding  for  robbery. 

In  the  second  meaning  of  Blue  Laws,  —  that  of  inquisitorial 
legislation,  —  New  England  comes  in  for  just  criticism.  Not 
that  she  was  much  worse  than  the  rest  of  the  world  even  in 
that.  To-day,  as  a  rule,  legislation  aims  to  correct  a  man's 

1  When  the  colonies  were  growing  up,  there  were  over  fifty  offenses  punish 
able  with  death  in  England.  This  number  increased  to  about  two  hundred 
before  the  "sanguinary  chaos  "  was  reformed  in  the  nineteenth  century  (cf. 
Modern  World,  §  746) ;  but  not  more  than  eighteen  offenses  were  ever 
"capital"  in  New  England.  Virginia  ran  the  number  up  to  twenty-seven; 
but  in  large  part  this  was  due  to  her  cruel  slave  laws,  which  were  rarely  en 
forced. 

156 


§  194]  BLUE   LAWS  157 

conduct  only  where  it  directly  affects  other  people  ;  but  in  that 
day,  all  over  Christendom,  the  state  tried  to  regulate  conduct 
purely  personal.  This  was  because  state  and  church  were 
so  closely  connected.  In.  Virginia,  the  colonial  law  required 
attendance  at  church,  and  forbade  traveling  on  Sunday.1  In 
the  Puritan  colonies  such  legislation  was  more  minutely  vexing,  — • 
and  more  rigorously  enforced. 

193.  At  the  same   time,   the   most  common  specific  charges 
against  New  England  are  wholly  false.     It  is  still  widely  believed 
that  in  Connecticut  the  law  forbade  a  woman  to  kiss  her  child 
on  Sunday ;  that  it  prohibited  playing  on  "  any  instrument  of 
music  except  the  drum,  trumpet,  and  jewsharp  " ;  and  that  it 
required  "  all  males  "  to  have  their  hair  "  cut  round  according 
to  a  cap."     These  "  laws  "  are  merely  the  ingenious  vengeance 
of  a  fugitive  Tory  clergyman  (S.  A.  Peters),  who  during  the 
Revolution   published   in  England   a   History  of  Connecticut. 
This  quaint  book  contains  a  list  of  forty-five  alleged    "  Blue 
Laws."     Some  are  essentially  correct,  and  most  have  some  basis 
in  fact ;  but  a  few  are  mere  malicious  inventions,  and  it  is 
by  these  almost  alone  that  the  "  code  "  is  generally  known. 

The  veracity  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Peters  may  be  judged  from  other 
items  in  his  History.  He  pictures  the  inhabitants  of  a  Connecticut  village 
fleeing  from  their  beds,  mistaking  the  croaking  of  an  "army  of  thirsty 
frogs"  (on  their  way  from  one  pond  to  another)  for  the  yells  of  an 
attacking  party  of  French  and  Indians  ;  and  he  describes  the  rapids  of  the 
Connecticut  Kiver  thus,  —  "  Here  water  is  consolidated  without  frost,  by 
pressure,  by  swiftness,  between  the  pinching,  sturdy  rocks,  to  such  a 
degree  of  induration  that  an  iron  crow  [bar]  floats  smoothly  down  its 
current "  ! 

194.  Soon  after  1650  there  began  a  slow  decay  in  Puritanism. 

The  English  historian,  Freeman,  complains  that  students  of 
history  go  wrong  because  they  think  that  "all  the  Ancients 
lived  at  the  same  time."  It  is  essential  for  us  to  see  the  colo 
nist  of  1730  or  1700  as  a  different  creature  from  his  great  grand 
father  of  1660  or  1630.  Even  in  the  first  century  in  Massachu- 

i  Cf.  §  37  and  Source  Book,  No.  35. 


158  COLONIAL  LIFE  [§  194 

setts,  the  three  generations  had  each  its  own  character.  The  first 
great  generation  of  founders  (the  leaders,  at  least)  were  strong, 
genial,  tactful  men,  broadened  by  European  culture  and  by 
wide  experience  in  camp  and  court,  and  preserving  a  fine 
dignity,  sometimes  tender  graces  even,  in  their  stern  frontier 
lives.1  Their  Puritanism  was  sometimes  somber,  but  never 
petty.  It  was  like  the  noble  Puritanism  of  Milton  in  his 
youth,  —  the  splendid  enthusiasm  of  the  "  spacious  Elizabethan 
days,"  sobered  and  uplifted  by  moral  earnestness  and  religious 
devotion.  Winthrop  and  Cotton  and  their  fellows,  who  had 
left  ancestral  manor  houses  to  dwell  in  rude  cabins  for  con^ 
science'  sake,  lived  an  exalted  poem  day  by  day  in  their 
unfaltering  conviction  of  the  Divine  abiding  within  them  and 
around  them. 

Their  children  could  not  easily  rise  to  this  height.  As  early 
as  1646,  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  laments  the  dese 
cration  of  the  Sabbath  by  "youths  and  maydes  "  "uncivilly 
walkinge  in  the  streets  and  fields  .  .  .  and  otherwise  misspend 
ing  that  precious  time ; "  and  in  the  records  of  Watertown  for 
1669  we  read,  — 

"  It  was  agreed  that  the  selectmen  shall  take  their  turnes,  every  man  his 
Day,  to  site  upon  the  Gallary  to  looke  to  the  youthes  ...  in  the  time  of 
publike  exercises  on  the  Lords  Days,  and  that  the  two  Constables  shalbe 
desired  to  take  their  turnes  to  site  there  also." 

Grown  to  manhood,  these  sons  and  grandsons  of  the  founders 
laid  aside  frivolity,  it  is  true,  and  became  solemn  and  stern ; 
but  they  show  Puritanism  in  the  sere.  The  necessities  of 
frontier  life  made  them  nimble-witted,  inquisitive,  pushing, 
better  able  than  their  fathers  "  to  find  their  way  in  the  woods  " 
and  to  rear  crops  and  children  under  New  World  conditions. 
But  the  unceasing  struggle  and  petty  privations  (theirs  not  by 
choice  now,  but  by  compulsion),  made  their  lives  harsh  and 
unlovely  and  bitter.  Most  of  the  finer  thought  and  broad  out 
look  of  the  first  generation  fell  away,  and  they  had  never  felt 

1  See  Winthrop's  letters  in  the  Source  Book. 


§  195]  DECAY   OF  PURITANISM  159 

its  splendid  self-sacrifice.  Faith  gave  way  to  formula ;  inspira 
tion  was  replaced  by  tradition  and  cant.  The  second  genera 
tion  lost  the  poetry  out  of  Puritanism ;  the  third  generation 
began  to  lose  the  power. 

Much  that  is  vital  to  man  always  remained.  Puritanism 
continued  to  teach  the  supremacy  of  conscience  with  emphasis 
never  excelled  in  religious  movements ;  and,  in  its  darkest 
period,  sweet  and  gentle  lives  sometimes  blossomed  out  of  it. 
But  before  1700  it  showed  a  great  decline.  That  decay  was 
associated  with  three  other  phenomena  (§§  195-197). 

195.  There  was  a  marked  increase  in  gloom  in  New  England 
life.  Gloom  had  been  an  incident  of  Puritanism  in  its  best 
day :  now  it  became  so  dominant  as  to  distort  religion.  The 
damnation  scene  of  Wigglesworth's  Day  of  Doom  was  long  the 
most  popular  "  poetry  "  in  New  England.  Two  extracts  may 
indicate  its  character  for  literature  and  for  thought :  — 

"  They  cry,  they  roar,  for  Anguish  sore, 

And  gnash  their  Tongues  for  horror  : 

But  get  away  without  delay  ; 

Christ  pities  not  your  Cry. 

Depart  to  Hell :  there  you  may  yell 

and  roar  eternally. 
*  *  *  #  * 

"God's  direful  Wrath  their  bodies  hath 

Forever  immortal  made  .... 

And  live  they  must,  while  God  is  just, 

That  He  may  plague  them  so."1 

To  modern  ears  this  seems  comic.  But  men  of  that  day 
preferred  Wigglesworth's  ghastly  doggerel  to  Milton ;  and,  as 

1  Among  these  "damned,"  over  whose  fate  the  poet  gloats  in  this  way,  he 
is  careful  to  include  all  unbaptized  infants  as  well  as 

"  civil  honest  men, 

That  loved  true  Dealing  and  hated  Stealing, 
Nor  wronged  their  brethren," 

but  whose  righteousness  had  not  been  preceded  by  "  effectual  calling,"  in  the 
grotesque  phrase  of  the  day. 


160  COLONIAL  LIFE  [§  196 

Lowell  says  with  biting  satire,  the  damnation  scene  was  "  the 
solace  of  every  Puritan  fireside." 

196.  The  second  phenomenon  connected  with  the  fanaticism  of 
Puritanism  in  its  worst  age  is  the  "  Salem  witchcraft  madness  " 
of  1692.  Throughout  the  seventeenth  century,  all  but  the 
rarest  men  believed  unquestioningly  that  the  Devil  walked  the 
earth  in  bodily  form  and  worked  his  will  sometimes  through 
men  and  women  who  had  sold  themselves  to  him.  These 
suspected  "witches,"  —  usually  lonely,  scolding,  old  women, 
—  were  objects  of  universal  fear  and  hate.  In  Switzerland, 
Sweden,  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain,  great  numbers  of 
such  wretches  were  put  to  death,  not  merely  by  ignorant  mobs, 
but  by  judicial  processes  before  the  most  enlightened  courts. 
In  England,  in  1603,  parliament  sanctioned  this  Common  Law 
process  by  a  statute  providing  the  penalty  of  death  for  those 
who  should  have  "  Dealinges  with  evill  Spirits," l  and  the  New 
England  codes  contained  similar  legislation.  In  Virginia, 
Grace  Sherwood  was  "  swum  for  a  witch "  in  1705,  and  the 
jury  declared  her  guilty ;  but  she  escaped  punishment  through 
the  enlightened  doubts  of  the  gentry  Justices.  In  the  more 
progressive  Pennsylvania,  the  most  that  could  be  secured  from 
a  jury  was  a  verdict  against  an  accused  woman  of  "  guilty  of 
haveing  the  Common  fame  of  a  witch,  but  not  guilty  as  Sliee 
stands  Indicted."  In  Maryland  a  woman  was  executed  on  the 
charge  of  witchcraft.  But  most  of  the  American  persecutions 
occurred  in  New  England. 

Connecticut  executed  eleven  witches,  and  about  as  many 
more  suffered  death  in  Massachusetts  before  1690.  Then 
came  the  frenzy  at  Salem  ;  and  within  a  feiv  months  twenty  were 
executed,  while  the  prisons  were  crammed  with  many  scores 
more  of  the  accused.  The  clergy  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
prosecutions ;  and  the  hideous  follies  of  the  trials  are  almost 
incredible.  While  the  madness  lasted,  the  flimsiest  accusations 

1  This  law  remained  on  the  English  statute  books  until  1735  ;  and  in  1711 
Jane  Wenham  was  convicted  under  it  of  "  conversing  with  the  Devil  in  the 
shape  of  a  cat." 


196] 


THE  WITCHCRAFT  DELUSION 


161 


were  equivalent  to  proof.  One  neat  woman  had  walked  some 
miles  over  Lad  roads  without  getting  herself  muddy :  "  I  scorn 
to  be  drabbled,"  she  said.  Plainly  she  must  have  been  carried 
by  the  Devil !  And  so  "  she  was  hanged  for  her  cleanliness." 

Finally  the  common  sense  of   the  people   awoke,  and   the 
craze  passed  as  suddenly  as  it  had  come.     With  it,  closed  all 


THE  "  WITCH  HOUSE,"  SALEM,  MASSACHUSETTS.  The  oldest  house  now 
standing  in  Salem,  built  about  1635.  There  is  a  tradition  that  examina 
tions  of  accused  persons  were  held  here.  It  was  the  dwelling  of  Judge 
Jonathan  Corwin  of  the  Witchcraft  trials. 

legal  prosecution  for  witchcraft  in  New  England,  rather  earlier 
than  in  the  rest  of  the  world ;  but  the  atrocities  of  the  judicial 
murders  crowded  into  those  few  months  must  always  make  a 
terrible  chapter  of  history.1 

1  Good  brief  treatments  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  are  found  in  Eggleston's 
Transit  of  Civilization,  15-34,  and  in  Channing's  History  of  the  United  States, 
II,  456-462.  Longer  treatments,  containing  some  exaggerations,  are  given  in 
James  Russell  Lowell's  "Witchcraft"  in  his  Works,  and  in  Lecky's  History 
of  European  Rationalism. 


162  COLONIAL  LIFE  [§  197 

197.  In  the  early  eighteenth  century  the  reaction  against  the 
witchcraft  delusion,  the  general  decline  of   Puritanism,  and  the 
influx  of  dissenting  Baptists  and  Episcopalians  into  New  England 
greatly  lowered  the  old  influence  of  the  Puritan  clergy  in  society 
and  in  politics.     There  began,  too,  here  and  there,  a  division 
within  Puritan  churches,  foreshadowing  the   later  Unitarian 
movement.     This  loss  of  religious  unity  brought  with  it  for  a 
time  some  loosening  of  morals,  and  part  of  the  people  ceased 
to  have  any  close  relation  to  the  church,  —  though,  all  were 
still  compelled  to  go  to  service  each  Sunday. 

198.  Education.  —  Of   the   original    immigrants   below   the 
gentry  class,  a  large  proportion  could  not  write  their  names ; 
and  for  many  years,  in  most  colonies  except  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  there  were  few  schools.     Parents  were  sometimes 
exhorted  by  law  to  teach  their  children  themselves ;  but  all  lacked 
time,  and  many  lacked  knowledge.1     The  closing  years  of  the 
seventeenth  century  were  a  period  of  deplorable  ignorance,  — 
the  lowest  point  in  book  education  ever  reached  in  America.2 

With  the  dawn  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  its  greater 
prosperity,  conditions  began  to  improve.  In  Pennsylvania, 
parents  were  required,  under  penalty  of  heavy  fine,  to  see  that 
their  children  could  read,  and  several  free  elementary  schools 
were  established.  In  Maryland  the  statute  book  provided 
that  each  county  should  maintain  a  school,  with  a  teacher 
belonging  to  the  established  Episcopalian  Church ;  but,  since 
most  of  the  inhabitants  were  Catholics  or  Protestant  dissenters, 
the  law  was  ineffective.  In  Virginia,  in  1671,  Governor  Berke 
ley  had  boasted,  "  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  here 
nor  printing,"  and  had  hoped  that  for  a  hundred  years  the 
province  might  remain  unvexed  by  those  causes  of  "disobe 
dience  and  heresy."  Half  a  century  later  another  governor  of 

1  See  the  "  marks  "  for  signatures  to  a  Khode  Island  document  of  1636 
(Source  Book,  No.  89).    There  is  much  evidence  of  this  sort.    Mary  Williams, 
wife  of  Roger  Williams,  signed  by  her  "  mark."    So,  too,  did  Priscilla  Alden 
in  Plymouth. 

2  For  instance,  the  Watertown  Records  in  the  Source  Book,  No.  83,  show 
a  gross  and  increasing  illiteracy  after  the  middle  of  the  century. 


§  198]  SCHOOLS  AND   LEARNING  163 

Virginia  complained  bitterly  that  chairmen  of  committees  in 
the  Assembly  could  not  write  legibly  or  spell  intelligibly. 
But  by  1724,  twelve  free  schools  had  been  established  by 
endowments  of  wealthy  planters,  and  some  twenty  more 
private  schools  were  flourishing. 

/South  of  that  colony  there  was  no  system  of  schools  whatever. 
Here  and  there,  however,  the  churches  did  something  toward 
teaching  children;  and  of  course  the  wealthy  planters  of 
South  Carolina,  like  those  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  had 
private  tutors  in  their  families,  and  sent  their  sons  to  colleges 
in  their  own  or  neighboring  colonies  or  to  the  English  uni 
versities.  In  New  York,  the  Dutch  churches  had  begun  free 
schools ;  but  at  a  later  time,  because  of  the  connection  with 
the  church,  these  almost  disappeared.  Massachusetts  and  Con 
necticut  from  the  beginning  had  a  remarkable  system  of  public 
education  (§  199) ;  and  the  other  New  England  colonies  gradu 
ally  followed  in  their  footsteps. 

By  1760,  though  the  actual  years  of  schooling  for  a  child  were 
usually  few,  an  astonishingly  large  part  of  the  population  could 
read,  —  many  times  as  large,  probably,  as  in  any  other  country 
of  the  world  at  that  time ;  but  there  was  still  dolefully  little  cul 
ture  of  a  much  higher  quality.  Between  1700  and  1770  several 
small  colleges  were  established,1  in  addition  to  the  older  Har 
vard  (§  199)  ;  but  none  of  these  institutions  equaled  a  good  high 
school  of  to-day  in  curriculum,  or  equipment,  or  faculty. 

With  a  few  notable  exceptions,  the  only  private  libraries  of  consequence 
were  the  theological  collections  of  the  clergy.  In  1698  the  South  Caro 
lina  Assembly  founded  at  Charleston  the  first  public  library  in  America, 
and  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  Franklin  started  a  sub 
scription  library  at  Philadelphia.  In  1700  there  was  no  American  news 
paper.  The  Boston  News  Letter  appeared  in  1704,  and,  by  1725,  eight  or 
nine  weeklies  were  being  published,  pretty  well  distributed  through  the 
colonies.  Ten  years  later,  Boston  alone  had  five  weeklies. 

1  William  and  Mary,  in  Virginia,  1696 ;  Yale,  1701 ;  Princeton,  in  New  Jersey, 
746 ;  King's,  in  New  York  (now  Columbia) ,  1754 ;  the  University  of  Pennsyl 
vania  (through  the  efforts  of  Franklin),  1755;  and  Brown,  in  Rhode  Island, 
1764.  South  of  Virginia  there  was  no  educational  institution  of  rank. 


164 


COLONIAL  LIFE 


198 


It  should  be  noted  clearly  that  in  New  England  such  education  as  there 
was,  was  open  to  all  on  fairly  equal  terms ;  while  south  of  Maryland, 
education,  high  or  low,  was  practically  only  for  the  few.  No  other  one 
fact  explains  so  much  of  the  difference  between  the  masses  of  the  people, 
north  and  south,  in  following  years .  On  the  other  hand,  the  great  planters 
of  the  south  were  by  all  odds  the  best  educated  men  in  America,  acquainted 
with  literature,  history,  politics,  and  law,  and  with  such  science  as  the 
age  had,  and  more  or  less  in  touch  with  European  culture  and  habits  of 
thought. 

199.  The  schools  of  early  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  demand 
a  longer  treatment.  Here  was  the  splendor  of  Puritanism, — • 

a  glory  that  easily  makes 
us  forget  the  shame  of 
the  Quaker  and  witchcraft 
persecutions.  The  public 
school  system  of  America 
to-day,  in  its  essential  feat 
ures,  is  the  gift  of  the  Puri 
tans. 

In  Massachusetts,  pri 
vate  schools  were  found 
in  some  villages  from  the 
building  of  the  first  rude 
cabins.  In  1635,  five  years 
after  Winthrop's  landing, 
a  Boston  town  meeting 
adopted  one  of  these  pri 
vate  schools  as  a  town 
school,  appointing  a  school 
master  and  voting  from 
the  poor  town  treasury 
fifty  pounds  (some  twelve 
hundred  dollars  to-day) 
So  Salem  in  1637,  and  Cambridge  in  1642.1 


FRANKLIN'S  PRINTING  PRESS.  In  the 
collection  of  the  Pennsylvania  Histor 
ical  Society. 


for  its  support. 


*In  1645  Dorchester  —  still  a  rude  village  — adopted  a  code  of  school  laws 
of  comprehensive  nature,  well  illustrating  educational  ideals  of  the  town. 


199] 


SCHOOLS  AND   LEARNING 


165 


David  Isck 
Life. 


Such  schools  were  a  new  growth  in  this  New  World,  suggested, 
no  doubt,  by  the  parish  schools  of  England,  but  more  generously 
planned  for  the  whole  public,  by  public  authority. 

So  far,  the  movement  and  control  had  been  local.  Next  the 
commonwealth  stepped  in  to  adopt  these  town  schools  and  weld 
them  into  a  state  system.  This  step,  too,  was  taken  by  the  men 
of  the  first  genera 
tion,  —  pioneers  still 
struggling  for  exist 
ence  on  the  fringe  of 
a  strange  and  savage 
continent.  In  1642, 
in  consideration  of 
the  neglect  of  many 
parents  to  train  up 
their  children  "  in 
learning  and  labor, 
which  might  be  prof 
itable  to  the  Common 
wealth"  the  General 
Court  passed  a  Com 
pulsory  Education 
Act  of  the  most 
stringent  character. 
This  law  even  author 
ized  town  authorities 
to  take  children  from 
their  parents,  if  need 
ful,  to  secure  their 
schooling.1 

This   Act   assumed 


Time  cuts  down  al) 
Both  great  and  fmall. 


ifc 


in  the  Sea 
God's  Voice  cbty. 


Xerxts  the  great  dU 

die,   ' 
And  fo  nmit  you  &  I. 

Toutb  forward  flips 
Death  fooneit 


Zacbetif   fce 

Did  climb  the  Tree 

HH  Lord  to  fee, 


A  PAGE  FROM  THE  EARLIEST  KNOWN  EDITION 
OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PRIMER,  the  first  New 
England  textbook  not  made  up  wholly  of  ex 
tracts  from  the  Bible.  The  first  edition  ap 
peared  about  1680,  and  the  book  held  its  place 
until  long  after  the  Revolution. 


that  schools  were  accessible  in  each  town.     Five  years  later, 

See  extensive  extracts  in  Source  Book,  No.  81.  Note  that  these  schools  were 
free  in  the  sense  of  being  open  to  all.  Commonly  they  were  supported  in  part 
by  taxation,  but  tuition  was  charged  also  to  help  cover  the  cost. 

1  The  Puritan  purpose  was  good  citizenship,  as  well  as  religious  training. 
The  preamble  of  the  similar  Connecticut  Act  of  1644  runs:  "  For  as  much  as 


166  COLONIAL  SCHOOLS  [§  199 

the  commonwealth  required  each  village  to  maintain  at  least 
a  primary  school,  and  each  town  of  a  hundred  houses  to  keep  up 
a  grammar  school  (Latin  school).  This  great  law  of  1647 
(written  with  solemn  eloquence,  as  if;  in  some  dim  way,  the 
pioneers  felt  the  grandeur  of  their  deed)  remains  one  of  the 
mighty  factors  that  have  influenced  the  destiny  of  the  world.1 


NOW  I  Jay  me  down  to 
T  pray  ihc  Lord  my  foul  :o  keep. 
If  I  fhould  die  before  I  wake, 
J  pray  the  Lord  my  foul  to  take. 
Good  children  muft 
fear  Cod  all  day\  Love  Chrift 

Parents  obey,  In  ftcret  pray, 

Nc  fa  Ife  thing  fay,  Mthd  iitt  '-e  play^ 

By  no  fin  ft  ray ,  IVlaks  no  de!ay% 

In  'doing  good, 

Awake,  arifc,  behold  ihou  haft, 
Thy  life,  a  leaf,  thy  breath,  a  blaft  ; 
At  night  lie  down  prepared  to  have 
Thy  deep,  thy  death,  thy  bed,  thy  grave* 


A  PAGE  FROM  THE  PAISLEY  EDITION  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PRIMER, 
1781.  The  evening  prayer  appeared  first  in  print  in  the  second  edition  of 
the  Primer,  almost  a  hundred  years  earlier. 

James  Eussell  Lowell,  after  a  delightful  reminiscence  of  the 
New  England  crossroads  schoolhouse,  continues  :  — 

"  Now  this  little  building,  and  others  like  it,  were  an  original  kind  of 
fortification  invented  by  the  founders  of  New  England.  These  are  the 
martello-towers  that  protect  our  coast.  This  was  the  great  discovery  of 
our  Puritan  forefathers.  They  were  the  first  lawgivers  who  saw  clearly, 
and  enforced  practically,  the  simple  moral  and  political  truth,  that  knowl- 

the  good  education  of  children  is  of  singular  behoof  and  benefit  to  any  Common 
wealth,"  etc.  (Each  Massachusetts  educational  statute  was  copied  within  two 
or  three  years  in  New  Haven  and  Connecticut.) 

1  See  Source  Book,  No.  82,  for  this  Act  in  full,  and  for  extracts  from  other 
school  laws  of  the  time,  See,  also,  extracts  in  No.  83  as  to  town  schools. 


§  200]  IN  NEW  ENGLAND  167 

edge  was  not  an  alms,  to  be  dependent  on  the  chance  charity  of  private 
men  or  the  precarious  pittance  of  a  trust-fund,  but  a  sacred  debt  which 
the  commonwealth  owed  to  every  one  of  its  children.  The  opening  of  the 
first  grammar-school  was  the  opening  of  the  first  trench  against  monopoly 
in  state  and  church ;  the  first  row  of  pot-hooks  and  trammels  which  the 
little  Shearjashubs  and  Elkanahs  blotted  and  blubbered  across  their  copy 
books  was  the  preamble  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 

The  Puritan  plan  embraced  a  complete  state  system  from 
primary  school  to  "  university."  In  1636,  a  year  after  Boston 
established  the  first  town  school,  Massachusetts  established  her 
"  state  university  "  (as  Harvard  truly  was  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  though  it  was  named  for  the  good  clergyman  who 
afterward  endowed  it  with  his  library).  Then  the  law  of  1647 
joined  primary  school  and  university  in  one  whole,  providing 
that  each  village  of  a  hundred  householders  must  maintain  a 
"  grammar-school,  with  a  teacher  able  to  instruct  youth  so  as 
they  may  be  fitted  for  the  University." 

True,  this  noble  attempt  was  too  ambitious.  Grinding  pov 
erty  made  it  impossible  for  frontier  villages  of  four  or  five 
hundred  people  to  maintain  a  Latin  school ;  and,  despite  heavy 
fines  upon  the  towns  that  failed  to  do  so,  such  schools  gradually 
gave  way,  except  in  one  or  two  large  places,  to  a  few  private 
academies,  —  which  came  to  represent  the  later  New  England 
idea  in  secondary  education.  Thus,  the  state  system  was 
broken  at  the  middle,  and  both  extremities  suffered.  The  uni 
versities  ceased  finally  to  be  state  institutions  ;  and  the  primary 
schools  deteriorated  sadly,  especially  in  the  period  of  Puritan 
decline  about  1700,  with  meager  courses,  short  terms,  and  low 
aims.  But  with  all  its  temporary  failure  in  its  first  home,  the 
Puritan  ideal  of  a  state  system  of  public  instruction  was  never 
wholly  lost  sight  of  in  America. 

200.  Population  in  1775  numbered  2,500,000.!  One  third  had 
been  born  in  Europe.  The  English  nationality  was  dominant 
in  every  colony.  In  the  Carolinas  the  Huguenots  were  numer 
ous,  and  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  there  was  a  large  Ger- 

!Cf.  §179. 


168  COLONIAL  LIFE   TOWARD   1775  [§  201 

man  population.  South  Carolina,  too,  had  many  Highland 
Scots.1  The  largest  non-English  elements  were  found  in  the 
Middle"  colonies  :  Dutch  and  Germans  in  New  York  ;  Dutch 
and  Swedes  in  Delaware ;  Germans,  Welsh,  and  Celtic  Irish  in 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  Carolinas,  Virginia,  and  Pennsylvania, 
the  back  counties  were  settled  mainly  by  the  Scotch-Irish  (or 
Presbyterian  English),  with  a  strip  of  German  settlements  be 
tween  them  and  the  older  tide-water  counties. 

Negro  slaves 2  made  a  fifth  of  the  whole  population,  and  half 
of  that  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  (§  171).  That  line 
divided  the  population  of  the  country  into  two  nearly  equal 
halves ;  but  two  thirds  of  the  Whites  were  found  on  the  north 
side  of  it. 

201.  Labor  was  supplied,  in  the  main,  by  free  men  in  New 
England,3  by  indentured  White  servants  in  the  Middle  colonies, 
and  by  Negro  slaves  in  the  South. 

The  White  bond  servants  were  of  several  classes.  The  man  who  sold 
himself  into  service  for  four  or  seven  years  in  return  for  passage  money  for 
himself  or  his  family,  was  known  as  a  "  redemptioner,"  or  "  free- wilier. " 
The  German  immigrants  of  the  eighteenth  century,  like  many  of  the  Eng 
lish  settlers  .(§  24),  came  in  this  way.  Many  White  convicts  were  trans 
ported  from  England  and  condemned  to  a  term  of  service,  —  seven  or  four 
teen  years.  After  1717,  this  class  increased  rapidly  in  number,  averaging 
1000  a  year  for  the  fifty  years  preceding  the  Revolution.  Classed  with  the 
convicts  in  law,  but  very  different  from  them  in  character,  were  the 
political  "convicts,"  —  prisoners  sold  into  service  by  the  victorious 

1  These  came  to  America  after  the  defeat  at  Culloden  and  the  breaking  up 
of  the  clan  system.      Curiously  enough,  they  were  Tories  in  the  Revolution. 
The  same  conservative  and  loyal  temper  which  had  made  them  cling  to  the 
exiled  House  of  Stuart  in  England  made  them  in  America  adherents  of  King 
George. 

2  In  1619,  while  Virginia  was  still  the  only  English  colony  on  the  continent, 
she  received  her  first  importation  of  Negro  slaves,  twenty  in  number.     As  late 
as  1648,  there  we.re  only  300  in  her  population  of  15,000.    By  1670  the  number 
had  risen  to  2000  (out  of  a  total  of  40,000) .    A  century  later  nearly  half  her 
population  was  Black ;  while  in  South  Carolina,  more  than  half  was  Black. 
In  Maryland  the  proportion  was  about  a  fourth,  and  in  New  York  a  seventh. 

3  Indentured  servants  had  nearly  disappeared  from  New  England  (except  for 
the  apprenticeship  of  minors) ;  but  they  were  still  numerous  in  Virginia. 


§  202]  THE  PEOPLE  AND  THEIR  WORK  169 

parties,  each  in  turn,  during  the  English  civil  wars  of  the  seventeenth 
century.1 

202.  The  condition  of  White  servants  was  often  a  deplorable 
servitude.  The  colonial  press,  up  to  the  Revolution,  teems 
with  advertisements  offering  rewards  for  runaway  servants. 
More  than  seventy  such  notices  are  contained  in  the  "  News 
paper  Extracts"  published  in  the  New  Jersey  Archives  for 


Day   run-away   from  his  Mafier 

Abraham  Anderhn  of  Ktfy-Marblekead,  a  white  Man  Servant,  a- 
bout  r  6  Years  of  Age,  with  ftiort  brmvnifti  (Irak  Hair,  he  is  pretty 
clear  fldn'd,  {omcthing  freckled,  and  I  ihir.k,  on  his  left  Foot  the  top  of 

'  one  of  his  middle  Toes  is  cm  off*.  He  carried  off  with  him  a  ftriped 
vvorued  and  wool  jacket,  two  tow  and  linnen  Shirts,  one  pair  of  tow 
and  linnen  Trowfcrs,  and  one  pair  of  (ow  and  linren  ilriped  Breeches, 
two  pair  of  iightift  coloured  blue  Hote,  and  a  new  CaiW  Hat :  His 
Name  is  Florence  Syhffttf  al'us  AW  Carter  :  Whcfoever  {hail  apprehend 
«nd  take  up  faki  Fellow,  and  him  deliver  to  his  ahovefaid  Waller  in 
Neta^Mfirbhkead,  in  the  County  of  York,  or  to  Capt.  Jifoua  Bfln^i  in 

•Talmetttb,  Ihall  have  FOUR.  POUNDS,  lawful  Money,  as  a  Reward, 
and  all  neccffary 'Charges  paid. 

Auguft  25.  >7'v  Abrabom 


ADVERTISEMENT  FROM  THE  Boston  Weekly  News  Letter,  September  18, 
1755.  A  photograph  of  the  original,  which  is  in  the  collection  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

that  little  colony,  for  only  the  two  years,  1771,  1772.  This 
must  have  meant  one  runaway  servant  to  each  1000  of  the 
population ;  and  probably  not  half  the  runaways  are  in  those 
advertisements.  One  runaway  is  described  as  "  born  in  the 

1  Often  the  convicts  were  not  hardened  criminals,  but  rather  the  victims  of 
the  atrocious  laws  in  England  at  the  time.  Many  were  intelligent  and  capable. 
In  Maryland  in  1773  a  majority  of  all  tutors  and  teachers  are  said  to  have  been 
convicts.  Some  of  them  (like  a  much  larger  part  of  the  redemptioners) ,  after 
their  term  of  service,  became  prosperous  and  useful  citizens.  Even  in  aristo 
cratic  Virginia,  a  transported  thief  rose  to  become  attorney-general.  Charles 
Thomson,  Secretary  of  the  Continental  Congress,  was  a  "  redemptioner,"  as 
was  also  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  So,  too,  was 
Zenger  (§  191) ;  and  many  members  of  colonial  legislatures  could  be  named  who 
came  to  America  as  "  bond  servants." 


170  COLONIAL  LIFE  TOWARD  1775  [§  203 

colony"  about  50  years  old,  and  as  having  " served  in  the  last 
ivar  [French  War]  and  a  carpenter  by  trade" 

There  are  still  more  significant  and  gruesome  notices  by 
jailers,  proving  that  it  was  customary  to  arrest  a  vagrant 
workingman  on  suspicion  of  his  being  a  runaway,  and  then,  if 
no  master  appeared  to  claim  him  within  a  fixed  time,  to  sell 
him  into  servitude  for  his  jail  fees  !  Some  of  these  White  "  serv 
ants  "  are  described  as  fitted  with  "  iron  collars."  American 
law  and  custom  permitted  these  barbarities  upon  the  helpless 
poor  in  the  days  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill.1 

203.  Negroes  were  not  numerous  enough  in  the  North  (except 
perhaps  in  New  York)  to  affect  the  life  of  the  people  seriously. 
In  the  South,  Black  slavery  degraded  the  condition  of  the  inden 
tured   White   "servant,"   and  —  more    serious    still  —  made   it 
difficult  for  him  to  find  profitable  and  honorable  work  when 
his  term  of  service  had  expired.     As  early  as  1735,  the  result 
appeared  in  the  presence  of  the  class  known  later  as  "Poor 
Whites."     In   that  year  William  Byrd  (§  165)  declared  that 
these  "  Ethiopians  "  "  blow  up  the  Pride  and  ruin  the  Industry 
of  our  White  People,  who,  seeing  a  Kank  of  poor  Creatures 
below  them,  detest  work  for  Fear  it  should  make  them  look 
like  Slaves." 

In  Virginia,  as  a  rule,  slavery  was  mild  ;  while  in  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  it  was  excessively  brutal.  In  those  two  colonies  the  rice  planta 
tions  called  constantly  for  fresh  importations  of  savage  Africans.  In  all 
colonies  with  a  large  slave  population  there  were  cruel  "  Black  Laws," 
to  keep  slaves  from  running  away ;  and  everywhere  the  general  attitude 
of  the  law  toward  the  slave  was  one  of  indifference  to  human  rights. 
The  worst  phases  of  the  law  were  not  often  appealed  to  in  actual  prac 
tice  ;  but  in  New  York  in  1741,  during  a  panic  due  to  a  supposed  plot  for 
a  slave  insurrection,  fourteen  negroes  were  burned  at  the  stake  (with 
legal  formalities)  and  a  still  larger  number  were  hanged,  —  all  on  very 
flimsy  evidence. 

204.  Dependence  upon   slave  labor    helped  to  keep   industry 
purely  agricultural  in  the  South,  since  the  slave  was  unfit  for 

1  The  class  should  read  the  six  advertisements  reproduced  in  Source  Book, 
No.  117,  and  present  other  points  learned  by  such  reading. 


§  206]  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  171 

manufactures  or  for  the  work  of  a  skilled  artisan.  Tobacco 
raising  was  the  chief  employment  in  the  tidewater  districts  of 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  and  rice  cultivation 
in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

These  tidewater  staples  were  grown  mainly  on  large  planta 
tions;  and  the  Virginia  planter  in  particular  sought  to  add 
estate  to  estate,  and  to  keep  land  in  his  family  by  rigid  laws 
of  entail.1  Between  this  class  of  large  planters  and  the  "  Poor 
Whites,"  however,  there  was  always  a  considerable  number  of 
small  farmers  in  Virginia  ;  and  in  North  Carolina  this  element 
was  the  main  one.  The  western  counties  of  all  the  colonies 
were  occupied  exclusively  in  small  farming. 

205.  In  the  Middle  colonies,  foodstuffs  were  raised  on  a  large 
scale.     These  colonies  exported  to  the  West  Indies  (both  Eng 
lish  and  French)  most  of  the  bread,  flour,  beer,  beef,  and  pork 
used  there.     In  these  colonies,  too,  immigrant  artisans  from 
Germany  early  introduced  rudimentary  manufactures,  —  linen, 
pottery,  glassware,  hats,  shoes,  furniture. 

206.  In  New  England,  occupations  were   still  more   varied. 
The  majority  of  the  people  lived  still  in  agricultural  villages  and 
tilled  small  farms;  but  they  could  not  wring  all  their  subsist 
ence  from  the  scanty  soil.     Each  farmer  was  a  "  Jack-at-all- 
trades."     In  the  winter  days,  he  hewed  out  clapboards,  staves, 
and  shingles ;  and  in  the  long  evenings,  at  a  little  forge  in  the 
fireplace,  he  hammered  out  nails  and  tacks  from  a  bar  of  iron. 
Even  in   the   towns,  all   but  the   merchant  and   professional 
classes  had  to  be  able  to  turn  their  hands  to  a  variety  of  work 
if  they  would  prosper.     Mr.  Weeden  tells  of  a  certain  John 
Marshall,  a  constable  at  Braintree,  and  a  commissioned  officer 
in  the  militia   company  there,  who  "farmed   a  little,  made 
laths  in  the  winter,  was  painter,  carpenter,  and  messenger,  and 
burned  bricks,  bought  and  sold  live-stock,"  and  who  managed 
by  these  varied  industries  to  earn  about  four  shillings  a  day. 

*"  En  tail"  is  a  legal  arrangement  to  prevent  land  from  being  sold  or 
willed  away  out  of  a  fixed  line  of  inheritance.  Entail  is  found  only  where 
primogeniture  (inheritance  by  the  oldest  son)  is  the  rule. 


172 


COLONIAL  LIFE   TOWARD   1775 


[§207 


A  COLONIAL  FOOT-STOVE. 


Manufactures  appeared,  though,  with  one  exception,  on  a 
smaller  scale  than  in  Pennsylvania.  The  exception  was  ship 
building.  New  England  built  ships  for  both  American  and 
English  markets.  With  her  splendid  timber  at  the  water's 

i edge,  Massachusetts  could 

launch  an  oak  ship  at 
about  half  the  cost  of  a 
like  vessel  in  an  English 
shipyard ;  and  in  1775  at 
least  a  third  of  the  vessels 
flying  the  English  flag  had 
been  built  in  America. 
The  swift-sailing  schooner, 
perfected  in  this  period 
(page  119),  was  peculiarly 
a  New  England  creation. 
Another  leading  industry 
was  the  fisheries,  —  cod, 

mackerel,  and  finally,  as  these  bred  an  unrivaled  race  of  sea 
men,  the  whale  fisheries  of  both  polar  oceans. 

New  England,  too,  was  preeminently  the  commercial  section. 
Her  schooners,  often  from  villages  like  Gloucester,  carried 
almost  all  the  trade  between  colony  and  colony  for  the  whole 
seaboard.  And  in  centers  like  Boston  and  Newport  (as  also 
in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  the  Middle  colonies)  there 
grew  up  an  aristocracy  of  great  merchants  (in  the  old  English 
meaning  of  the  word),  with  warehouses,  offices,  wharves,  and 
fleets  of  tall-masted  ships *  on  every  sea,  and  agents  or  corre 
spondents  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  One  favorite  "  circle  of  ex 
change  "  was  the  "  three  cornered  route " :  (1)  New  England 
merchants  carried  rum  to  Africa,  to  exchange  for  Negro  slaves  ; 

(2)  these  they  sold  largely  in  the  West  Indies  for  sugar ;   and 

(3)  this  sugar  they  brought  home,  to  make  into  more  rurn. 
207.   All  the  colonies  imported  their  better  grades  of  clothing 

and   of   other   manufactures    from   England.      The   southern 

1  See  cut  on  page  396. 


208] 


TRADE  AND  MONEY 


173 


Golorrte  theBflaflor  AallU  lav 

equal  to  n 

accepted  ky  il: 

labor  curtate  to  Kim  una.LLIIU3U.ck.  pay  tn&trtj 

and  Fcr  a.<ny  Stock  set  a/ny  time  In  tke^at^D 

Tr  e  A  f  •. t  ty  B  o  R  en  uc.  ISf  ev 

Kbrttarv-tke  iiurd  J^q'o 
j\     (~  i  s~*        ,  — 


planters  dealt  through  agents  in  England,  to  whom  they  con 
signed  their  tobacco.  For  the  other  colonies  the  "circle  of 
exchange "  was  a  trifle  more  complex.  They  imported  from 
England  more  than  they  sold  there.  But  they  sold  to  the 
West  Indies  more  than  they  bought,  receiving  the  balance  in 
money,  —  mainly 
French  and  Spanish 
coins,  —  with  which 
they  settled  the  bal 
ances  against  them  in 
England. 

208.  This  drain  of 
coin  to  England  was 
incessant  through  the 
whole  colonial  period. 
No  coins  were  struck 
in  the  colonies,  of 
course,  except  for  the 
"  Pine-Tree  Shilling," 
of  Massachusetts 
(§  141);  and  there 
were  no  banks,  to  is 
sue  currency.  Trade 
was  largely  carried  on, 
not  by  money,  but  by 
barter;  and  in  all  col 
onies,  especially  in 
the  first  century, 
debts  were  settled  and 
taxes  were  paid  in  produce  ("pay")  at  a  rate  for  each  kind 
fixed  by  law.  (Cf .  §  164  for  tobacco  in  Virginia.) 

Wages  and  salaries  were  paid  in  the  same  way.  The  follow 
ing  record  of  a  vote  by  a  Plymouth  town  meeting  in  1667  hints 
at  the  difficulty  of  getting  "  good  pay  "  in  such  a  method :  — 

"That  the  same  of  fifty  pounds  shalbee  alowed  to  Mr.  Cotton  [the 
minister]  for  this  present  yeare  (and  his  wood).  To  be  raised  by  way  of 


MASSACHUSETTS  PAPER  MONEY  OF  1690.  From 
a  bill  in  the  collection  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society. 


174 


COLONIAL  LIFE   TOWARD   1775 


[§209 


Rate  [assessed  as  a  tax]  to  be  payed  in  such  as  god  gives,  ever  onely  to  be 
minded  that  a  considerable  parte  of  it  shalbee  payed  in  the  best  pay." 

Toward  the  end  of  the  colonial  period  the  accounts  of  Harvard 
show  that  a  student,  afterward  president  of  the  college,  paid 
his  tuition  with  "  an  old  cow  "  —  which  had  to  be  accepted  at 
the  same  value  as  a  young  and  good  cow. 


MOUNT  VERNON,  the  home  of  George  Washington  and  a  typical  Southern 
mansion.    From  a  photograph. 

In  the  need  of  a  "  circulating  medium  "  (especially  during 
the  French  and  Indian  Wars,  when  the  governments  needed 
funds),  nearly  all  the  colonies  at  some  time  after  1690  issued 
paper  money.  The  matter  was  always  badly  handled,  and  great 
depreciation  followed,  with  serious  confusion  to  business.  In 
consequence,  the  English  government  finally  forbade  any  more 
such  issues,  to  the  great  vexation  of  many  people  in  America. 

209.  The  South  had  few  towns,  —  none  south  of  Baltimore, 
except  Charleston.  The  ordinary  planters  lived  in  white 
frame  houses,  with  a  long  porch  in  front,  set  at  intervals  of  a 
mile  or  more  apart,  often  in  parklike  grounds.  The  small  class 
of  wealthy  planters  lived  on  vaster  estates,  separated  from 


§210] 


NORTH,   SOUTH,  AND  WEST 


175 


neighbors  by  grander  distances.  In  any  case,  a  true  "planta 
tion"  like  a  medieval  manor,  was  a  unit,  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
ivorld.  The  planter's  importations  from  Europe  were  unladen 
at  his  own  wharf,  and  his  tobacco  (with  that  of  the  neighboring 
small  farmers)  was  taken  aboard.  Leather  was  tanned  ;  clothing 
for  the  hundreds  of  slaves  was  made ;  blacksmithing,  wood 
working,  and  other  industries  needful  to  the  little  community, 
were  carried  on,  sometimes  under  the  direction  of  White 
foremen.  The  mistress  supervised  weaving  and  spinning ;  the 
master  rode  over  his 
fields  to  supervise  culti 
vation.  The  two  usually 
cared  for  the  slaves, 
looked  after  them  in 
sickness,  allotted  their 
daily  rations,  arranged 
"marriages."  The  cen 
tral  point  in  the  planta 
tion  was  the  imposing 
mansion  of  brick  or  wood, 
with  broad  verandas,  sur 
rounded  by  houses  for 
foremen  and  other  assist 
ants  and  by  a  number  of 
offices.  At  a  distance  was  a  little  village  of  Negro  cabins. 
The  chief  bond  with  the  outer  world  was  the  lavish  hospitality 
between  the  planter's  family  and  neighbors  of  like  position 
scattered  over  many  miles  of  territory. 

210.  A  wholly  different  society  was  symbolized  by  even  the 
exterior  of  New  England.  Here  the  small  farms  were  sub 
divided  into  petty  fields  by  stone  fences,  gathered  from  the 
soil.  All  habitations  clustered  in  hamlets,  which  dotted  the 
landscape.  Each  was  marked  by  the  spire  of  a  white  church, 
and,  seen  closer,  each  was  made  up  of  a  few  wide,  elm-shaded 
streets  with  rows  of  small  but  decent  houses  in  roomy  yards. 

And  yet,  even  in  New  England,  people  were  expected  to 


THE  "  OLD  SHIP  "  MEETING  HOUSE  at 
Hingham,  Massachusetts,  built  in  1681. 
From  a  recent  photograph. 


176 


COLONIAL  LIFE   TOWARD   1775 


211 


dress  according  to  their  social  rank ;  and  inferiors  were  made 
to  "  keep  their  places,"  in  churches  and  public  inns.  The  club 
room  and  the  inn  parlor  were  for  the  gentry  only :  the  trades 
man  and  his  wife  found  places  in  the  kitchen  or  tap  room. 

211.   The  symbol  of  the  West  was  neither  the  broad-veran- 
dahed  country  mansion  nor  the  town  of  elm-shaded  streets 

clustering  about  a  white 
spire.  Rather  it  was  a 
stockaded  fort,  with  scat 
tered  log  cabins,  in  their 
stump-dotted  clearings, 
spotting  the  forest  for  miles 
about  it. 

As  early  as  1660,  in 
Virginia,  there  was  a 
difference  noticeable  be 
tween  eastern  and  west 
ern  counties.  The  great 
planters  were  not  much 
attracted  to  the  ruder 
frontier,  and  so  the  west 
ern  districts  were  left 
almost  wholly  to  a  demo 
cratic  society  of  small 
farmers.  Bacon's  Rebel 
lion  naturally  took  its  rise 

in  these  counties.  All  this  was  true  before  any  non-English 
immigration  appeared  in  Virginia. 

So  too  in  New  England,  where  there  was  little  non-English 
immigration  until  long  after  the  Revolution.  By  1700,  good 
land  was  scarce  in  the  settled  districts,  and  the  town  "  free 
holders  "  were  less  and  less  willing  to  admit  "  cottagers  "  (§  107) 
to  rights  of  wood  and  pasture  on  the  town  "  commons." 
Accordingly,  the  more  enterprising  and  daring  of  the  landless 
men  began  to  strike  out  for  themselves  in  new  settlements  far 
up  the  rivers,  —  usually  at  some  point  where  good  waterpower 


FORT  STEUBEN,  1787. 
center  of  settlement, 
toration. 


A  typical  Western 
From  a  recent  res- 


§  211]  THE   DEMOCRATIC  WEST  177 

suggested  a  mill  site,  and  always  where  land  could  be  taken 
almost  at  will.  Long  before  the  Revolution,  men  of  New 
England  birth  had  begun  a  new  and  more  democratic  New 
England  in  the  pine  woods  up  the  Kennebec  and  Androscoggin 
in  Maine,  along  the  upper  course  of  the  Merrimac  in  New 
Hampshire,  in  the  Green  Mountains  of  what  was  one  day  to  be 
"  Vermont,"  and  in  the  Berkshires  of  Massachusetts  —  as  about 
Pittsfield  on  the  upper  Housatonic. 

Meanwhile,  further  west,  beyond  the  first  mountain  range,  in 
the  long  valleys  from  Georgia  to  New  York,  the  Scotch-Irish  and 
the  Germans  were  building  the  true  West  (§  180).  No  rivers 
made  visits  and  trade  possible  for  them  with  the  older  settled 
area  —  divided  from  it  as  they  were  by  the  bristling  Blue  Ridge  ; 
and  so  here  difference  of  race  and  lack  of  intercourse  added  to 
the  earlier  distinction  between  eastern  and  western  districts. 

But  in  all  the  western  regions,  English  or  German  or  Irish, 
east  or  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  compared  with  the  tidewater  dis 
tricts,  there  was  little  aristocracy.  There  were  few  large  pro 
prietors,  few  gentry,  few  servants,  almost  no  slaves.  The  gold 
lace  and  powdered  wigs  of  the  older  sections  were  rarely  seen, 
and  only  on  some  official  from  the  eastern  counties.  Nearly 
every  male  settler  was  a  free  proprietor  working  his  own  land 
with  his  own  hands,  and  eating  and  wearing  the  products  of 
his  own  labor.  There  were  fewer  schools  and  fewer  clergy  than 
in  the  older  region- ;  and  the  hard  conditions  of  life  in  the  wil 
derness,  and  constant  touch  with  savage  enemies,  developed  a 
rudeness  of  manner  and  a  ruthless  temper.  Both  for  good  and 
bad,  this  new  frontier  had  already  begun  to  Americanize  the  old 
Europeanized  frontier  of  the  tidewater  districts. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Besides  references  in  the  footnotes,  the  atten 
tion  of  reading  students  is  called  to  the  following  material :  James  Russell 
Lowell's  essay  "New  England  Two  Centuries  Ago"  in  his  Works; 
Channing,  II,  367-526  ;  Alice  Morse  Earle's  Customs  and  Fashions  in  Old 
New  England  and  Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days.  Fiction  :  Mary  John 
ston's  Prisoners  of  Hope ;  F.  J.  Stimson's  King  Noanett.  (Both  these 
stories  deal  with  White  servitude.) 


PART   III 

SEPAKATION  FROM  ENGLAND 


CHAPTER   XIX 

HOW  THE  FRENCH  WARS  PREPARED  FOR  THE  REVOLUTION 

212-  The  seventy  years  of  Intercolonial  wars  closed  in  1763.  They 
had  won  for  England  a  new  colonial  empire  ;  but  soon  it  became  plain 
that  they  had  also  put  at  hazard  her  old  empire,  (i)  They  had  prepared 
her  old  colonies  in  North  America  for  union.  (2)  They  had  removed  the 
need  of  her  protection.  (3)  They  brought  her  to  tax  America. 

213.  The  common  danger,  during  the  long  wars,  had  done 
much  to  bring  the  colonies  together.     In  1698,  William  Penn 
drew  up  a  scheme  for  colonial  federation,  and  in  1754,  at  a 
council  of  governors  at  Albany,  Franklin  presented  his  famous 
plan  for  union  (Source  Book,  No.  114).      Between  these  dates 
seven  other  like  plans  appeared,  and  leaders  from  distant  colonies 
came  together  to  consider  some  of  them.     True,  the  great  ma 
jority  of  colonists  everywhere  ignored  or  rejected  all  such  pro 
posals  ;  but  the  discussion  prepared  men  for  union  when  a  stronger 
motive  should  arise.     And  without  union,  resistance  to  England 
would  have  been  impossible. 

214.  The  conquest  of  Canada  removed  the  most  pressing  need  of 
English  protection.     Far-sighted  men  had  long  seen  that  the 
colonies  might  be  less  true  to  the  mother  country  if  the  dreaded 
French  power  should  cease  to  threaten  them  from  the  north. 
In  1748,  Peter  Kalm,  a  shrewd  Swedish  traveler,  wrote  :  — 

"  It  is  of  great  advantage  to  the  crown  of  England  that  the  colonies  are 
near  a  country  under  the  government  of  the  French  .  .  .  There  is  reason 

178 


§  216]       PREPARATION  IN  THE  FRENCH  WARS         179 

to  believe  the  king  was  never  earnest  in  his  attempts  to  expel  the  French. 
.  .  .  These  dangerous  neighbors  are  the  reason  why  the  love  of  the  colonies 
for  their  metropolis  does  not  utterly  decline." 

Probably,  in  the  italicized  sentence,  Kalm  had  in  mind  the 
fact  that,  in  King  George's  War  (then  just  closed),  the  English 
ministry  had  refused  to  cooperate  with,  the  colonies  for  the 
conquest  of  Canada.  In  the  "  French  and  Indian  "  War,  Pitt 
threw  aside  this  ignoble  caution,  and  brought  about  the  conquest. 
Even  then,  some  Englishmen  urged  that  England  ought  to 
restore  Canada  to  Erance,  in  order  to  hold  her  old  empire  more 
securely ; l  and  the  French  statesman,  Vergennes,  prophesied :  — 

"England  will  soon  repent  of  having  removed  the  only  check  that 
could  keep  her  colonies  in  awe.  They  no  longer  need  her  protection.  She 
will  call  upon  them  to  contribute  toward  the  support  of  burdens  they  have 
helped  bring  upon  her  ;  and  they  will  answer  by  striking  off  all  dependence." 

215.  The  colonies  had  been  held  to  England  by  ties  internal 
and  external,  —  by  affection  and  by  foreign  peril.     The  inter 
nal  tie,  however,  had  already  been  sapped,  insensibly,  (1)  by  a 
large  non-English  immigration  (§  179)  and  (2)  by  the  long  fric 
tion  over  Navigation  Acts,  paper  money,  royal  vetoes,  governors7 
salaries,  and  so  on  (§§  183  ff.).     Now  the  external  bond,  too,  was 
loosened,  and  a  shock  might  jar  the  two  halves  of  the  empire  apart. 
The  Intercolonial  wars  led  England  to  give  this  shock  —  first  by 
her  "writs  of  assistance  "  to  enforce  old  laws,  and  then  by  new 
taxation,  in  the  Sugar  Act  of  1764  and  in  the  Stamp  Act. 

216,  The  "  writs  of  assistance  "  were  used  to  enforce  the  old 
Navigation  Acts  with  a  new  energy.     This  policy  began  with 
Pitt,  during  the  French  and  Indian  War.     The  original  purpose 
was,  not  to  raise  revenue,  but  to  stop  what  Pitt  indignantly  and 
truly  called 

"  an  illegal  and  most  pernicious  Trade  ...  by  which  the  Enemy  .  .  . 
is  supplied  with  Provisions  and  other  Necessaries,  whereby  they  are  prin 
cipally,  if  not  alone,  enabled  to  sustain  and  protract  this  long  and  expensive 
War.  " 

1  Woodburn's  Lecky's  American  Revolution,  3-5,  gives  a  striking  extract 
from  such  an  argument  by  William  Burke,  a  kinsman  of  the  orator  Burke. 


180  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND  [§  217 

The  French  armies  in  Canada  and  the  French  fleets  in  the 
West  Indies  were  fed  by  provisions  shipped  to  them  from  New 
England,  at  the  very  time  that  England  was  lighting  desperately 
to  protect  New  England  against  those  armies  and  fleets. 
Many  colonists  confused  this  shameful  trade  with  the  ordinary 
smuggling  which  had  long  made  parts  of  the  navigation  laws  a 
dead  letter.  On  the  other  side,  the  customs  officials  fell  back 
upon  remedies  as  bad  as  the  evil.  In  1755,  they  began  to 
use  general  search  warrants,  known  as  "writs  of  assistance." 
This  form  of  warrant  had  grown  up  in  England  in  the  evil 
times  of  the  Stuart  kings.  It  ran  counter  to  the  ancient  English 
principle  that  a  man's  house  was  "  his  castle,"  into  which  not 
even  the  officer  of  the  law  might  enter  without  the  owner's 
permission,  except  upon  definite  cause  shown.  Unlike  ordinary 
search  warrants,  these  new  documents  did  not  name  &  particular 
place  to  be  searched  or  a  particular  thing  to  be  searched  for, 
nor  did  they  make  public  the  name  of  the  informer  upon  whose 
testimony  they  were  issued.  They  authorized  any  officer  to 
enter  any  house  upon  any  suspicion,  and  "  were  directed  against 
a  whole  people."  They  might  easily  become  instruments  of 
tyranny,  and  even  of  personal  revenge  by  petty  officials. 

217.  When  George  III  came  to  the  throne,  in  1760,  all  writs 
of  the  past  reign  expired.  Accordingly,  in  1761,  a  revenue 
officer  at  Boston  asked  a  Massachusetts  court  to  issue  new 
"writs  of  assistance."  It  then  became  the  place  of  James 
Otis,  the  brilliant  young  Advocate  General,  to  argue  for  them. 
Instead,  he  resigned  his  office,  and  took  the  case  against 
them. 

"  Otis  was  a  flame  of  fire.  Then  and  there  the  child  Inde 
pendence  was  born."1  He  called  the  general  warrants  "the 
worst  instrument  of  arbitrary  power,  the  most  destructive  of 
English  liberty  and  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  law,  that 
ever  was  found  in  an  English  law  book."  He  contended,  he  said, 
against  "  a  kind  of  power,  the  exercise  of  which  had  cost  one  king 

1  So  wrote  John  Adams  some  years  afterward.  The  other  quotations  in  the 
paragraph  are  from  notes  taken  at  the  time  by  Adams,  then  a  law  student. 


§  218]  GEORGE   GRENVILLE  181 

of  England  his  crown,  and  another  his  head.  .  .  .  No  Act  of 
Parliament  can  establish  such  a  writ.  .  .  .  An  act  against  the 
constitution  is  void." 

Otis  lost  the  case ;  but  his  fiery  eloquence  roused  the  people 
to  open  the  whole  question  of  parliamentary  control.  Soon  after 
ward,  he  published  his  views  in  two  pamphlets  which  were 
widely  read.  "  God  made  all  men  naturally  equal,"  he  affirmed. 
Government  is  "  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  the  governed," 
and  harmful  government  should  be  destroyed.  Parliament  he 
recognized  as  supreme  (so  long  as  it  governed  fitly),  but  he 
urged  that  the  colonists,  besides  keeping  their  local  legislatures, 
"  should  also  be  represented,  in  some  proportion  to  their  number 
and  estates,  in  the  grand  legislature  of  the  nation." 

218.  In  1763,  peace  removed  the  especial  need  for  writs  of 
assistance ;  and  for  a  time  the  Americans  forgot  all  past  irrita 
tion  in  their  enthusiastic  gratitude  to  England  for  the  conquest 
of  Canada.  But  in  a  few  months  a  new  head  of  the  English 
ministry  reopened  all  the  old  wounds.  This  was  George 
Grenville,  an  earnest,  narrow  man,  without  tact  or  statesman 
ship,  bent  upon  raising  revenue  in  America. 

A  strong  case  could  be  made  out  for  that  plan.  The  Inter 
colonial  wars  had  made  England  the  greatest  world  power ; 
but  they  left  her,  too,  staggering  under  a  debt  such  as  no 
country  to  that  time  had  dreamed  of.  The  colonists  were 
prosperous  and  lightly  burdened.  Eight  millions  of  English 
men  owed  a  war  debt  of  ninety  dollars  a  head  —  incurred 
largely  in  defending  two  million  colonials,  whose  debt  counted 
less  than  two  dollars  a  head. 

Nor  could  the  colonists  excuse  themselves  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  done  enough  in  the  wars.  The  struggles  in 
America  had  been  little  more  than  scattered  skirmishes,  com 
pared  with  the  Titanic  conflicts  in  the  Old  World.  Pitt  had 
declared  that  he  would  "conquer  [French]  America  in  Ger 
many,"  and,  with  the  aid  of  Frederick  the  Great,  he  did  it.1 

1  Modern  World,  §§  492-494. 


182  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND  [§  219 

Even  in  America,  England  had  furnished  fully  half  the  troops l 
and  nearly  all  the  money  —  repaying  each  colony  for  all  expense 
in  maintaining  its  own  troops  when  outside  its  own  borders. 

Still  Grenville  did  not  expect  the  colonies  to  pay  any  part  of 
the  debt  already  incurred  by  England.  He  meant  only  to  have 
them  bear  a  part  of  the  cost  of  their  own  defense  for  the  future 
English  statesmen  agreed  that,  to  guard  against  French  re- 
conquest  and  Indian  outbreaks,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  ten 
thousand  troops  in  America. 

219.  It  was  easy  to  find  evidence  that  seemed  to  show  the 
need  of  such  a  garrison.  Pontiac's  War,  the  most  terrible 
Indian  outbreak  the  colonists  ever  knew,  came  just  at  the  close 
of  the  French  War,  in  1763,  and  raged  for  more  than  a  year, 
sweeping  bare,  with  torch  and  tomahawk,  a  long  stretch  of 
western  country.  A  few  British  regiments,  left  in  the  country 
from  the  preceding  war,  were  the  only  reason  the  disaster  was 
not  unspeakably  worse.  For  six  months  they  were  the  only 
troops  in  the  field.  The  Pennsylvania  legislature,  despite 
frantic  appeals  from  the  governor,  delayed  to  provide  defense 
for  its  own  frontier,  —  partly  from  Quaker  principles,  but 
more  from  a  shameful  dislike  felt  by  the  older  districts  for  the 
Scotch-Irish  western  counties.  The  savages,  having  worked 
their  will  in  that  province,  carried  their  raids  across  its 
southern  border,  getting  into  the  rear  of  a  small  force  with 
which  George  Washington  was  striving  gallantly  to  guard  the 
western  frontier  of  Virginia.  Washington's  force,  too,  was  for 
months  altogether  insufficient  for  its  task.  His  letters  to  the 
governor  of  Virginia  complained  bitterly  of  his  need  for 
reinforcements ;  but  the  governor's  earnest  entreaties  to  the 

1  In  the  Crown  Point  expedition  of  1755  (before  war  was  declared),  the 
3000  Colonials  made  the  whole  force ;  and  during  the  next  year  4000  of  the 
5000  troops  in  the  field  were  Colonials.  But  after  England  formally  declared 
war,  English  troops  plainly  preponderated.  Amherst  at  Louisburg  had  only 
100  Colonials  among  his  11,000  troops.  At  Quebec,  Wolfe  had  8500  regulars 
and  only  700  Americans  —  whom  he  described  as  "the  dirtiest,  most  con 
temptible,  cowardly  dogs  .  .  ,  such  rascals  as  are  an  encumbrance  to  an 
army." 


§  221]  PLAN  TO  TAX  AMERICA  183 

legislature  for  supplies  bore  fruit  very  slowly.  Washington 
declared  that  he  would  have  been  wholly  helpless  for  a  long, 
critical  time,  had  lie  not  had  under  his  command  a  small  troop 
of  English  soldiers. 

220.  But  the  colonists  had  many  times  made  it  plain  that  their 
Assemblies  would  give  no  money  to  support  a  standing  army. 
Indeed  they  feared  that  such  a  garrison  might  sometime  be 
used  by  a  despotic  government  in  England  to  take  away  their 
liberties.1     Accordingly  Grenville  decided  to  get  the  money  for 
the  support  of  a  garrison  by  taxing  the  colonists  through  parlia 
ment.     (1)  He  would  make  the  Navigation  Acts  a  source  of 
revenue,  instead  of  merely  a  means  of  benefiting  English  mer 
chants  ;  and  (2)  he  would  raise  money  in  America  by  internal 
taxes,  —  a  thing  never  before  attempted. 

In  1764  Grenville  ordered  that  the  Navigation  Acts  be  en 
forced  rigidly ;  and  zealous  revenue  officers  in  America  spread 
dismay  and  irritation  by  suddenly  seizing  many  ships  with 
cargoes  of  smuggled  goods.  Then,  upon  communities  already 
angry  and  suspicious,  fell  news  of  a  new  tax  law. 

221.  This  was  the  "Sugar  Act"  of  1764.     The  old  Sugar 
Act   of   1733  (§  185)  had  tried  to  check  the  importation  of 
sugar  from  the  French  West  Indies  —  in  the  interest  of  the 
British  West  Indies ;  but  this  law  had  never  been  enforced. 
The  new  "  Sugar  Act "  (1)  provided  machinery  more  efficient 
than  ever  before,  to  enforce  the  whole  system  of  navigation 
laws ;  (2)  revised  those  laws   so  as   to   raise  more  revenue ; 
and  (3)  forbade  absolutely  all  trade  with  the  French  West  Indies 

—  which  were  a  chief  market  for  the  products  of  New  England 
and  of  the  Middle  colonies  (§§  205,  206). 

The  commercial  colonies  were  angered  and  alarmed.  They 
had  never  so  feared  French  conquest  as  they  now  feared  the 
loss  of  French  trade.  With  every  mail  from  America,  a 
storm  of  protests  assailed  the  ministry.  But  the  Sugar  Act 

1  See  Source  Book,  No.  133  b,  for  a  resolution  by  a  Virginia  "  Convention  " 
on  this  matter  —  quite  in  accord  with  the  old  English  prejudice  against  a 
standing  army  in  time  of  peace. 


184  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND  [§  222 

did  not  directly  affect  the  southern  colonies ;  and  therefore  re 
sistance  to  it  could  not  arouse  a  united  America.  Moreover, 
though  this  law  did  aim  to  raise  revenue,  still  In  form  it  was 
like  preceding  navigation  laws,  to  which  the  colonists  were  ac 
customed.  The  leaders  of  public  opinion  needed  a  better  rally 
ing  cry  than  it  gave,  to  array  the  colonies  against  English  rule. 

222.  The  Stamp  Act  gave  this  better  opportunity.     Early  in 
1764,  Grenville  made  the  plan  of  this  law  public.     Parliament 
promptly  adopted  resolutions  approving  the  plan,  but  gave  the 
colonies  a  year  more  to  provide  some  other  means  for  support 
ing  a  garrison,  if  they  preferred. 

The  colonies  suggested  no  other  plan,  but  they  made  loud 
protests  against  this  one.  In  the  fall  of  1764,  the  Sugar  Act  fell 
into  the  background ;  and  from  colonial  town  meetings  and 
Assemblies  petitions  began  to  assail  the  ministry  against  the 
unconstitutional  nature  of  the  proposed  Stamp  Act.  These 
communications  Grenville  never  presented  to  parliament.  In 
March,  1765,  parliament  enacted  the  law  almost  without  dis 
cussion,  and  with  no  suspicion  of  the  storm  about  to  break. 

The  Stamp  Act  was  modeled  upon  a  law  in  force  in  Great  Britain.  It 
required  the  use  of  stamps  or  stamped  paper  for  newspapers,  pamphlets, 
cards  and  dice,  and  for  all  legal  documents  (wills,  deeds,  writs).  In  a 
few  instances,  where  the  document  recorded  some  important  grant,  the 
cost  of  the  stamp  rose  to  several  pounds ;  but,  as  a  rule,  it  ranged  from 
a  penny  to  a  shilling.  Not  a  penny  was  to  go  to  England.  The  whole 
revenue  was  appropriated  to  the  future  support  of  an  American  garrison. 

223.  Now  came  a  significant  change  in  the  agitation  in  America. 

Astute  leaders  seized  the  chance  to  rally  public  dissatisfaction 
against  England  by  appeals  to  the  old  English  cry,  —  "  No  taxa 
tion  without  representation."  In  opposing  the  Sugar  Act,  the 
colonists  opposed  an  immediate  injury  to  their  pocket  books ; 
but,  from  1765,  they  contended,  not  against  actual  oppression, 
but  against  a  principle  which  might  lead  to  oppression.  "  They 
made  their  stand,"  says  Moses  Coit  Tyler,  "  not  against  tyranny 
inflicted,  but  against  tyranny  anticipated."  The  freest  people 
of  their  age,  they  were  fit  for  more  freedom. 


CHAPTER   XX 
THE  UNDERLYING  CAUSES  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

224.  The  English  colonial  system  had  guided  and  guarded 
the  colonies  while  they  needed  help  and  protection.  It  was 
not  tyrannical ;  but  it  was  sometimes  selfish  and  often  short 
sighted,  and  it  always  carried  the  possibility  of  further  interfer 
ence.1  True,  until  1764,  actual  interference  had  never  been 
seriously  hurtful.  Often  it  had  been  helpful.  But  any  inter 
ference  was  vexatious  to  a  proud  people,  who  now  felt  safe 
enough  and  strong  enough  to  manage  their  own  affairs.  The 
Americans  had  outgrown  any  colonial  system  possible  in  that  day. 
They  were  grown  up.  The  time  had  come  for  independence. 

Mellin  Chamberlain,  in  one  of  his  historical  addresses,  puts  the  cause 
of  the  Revolution  in  a  nutshell.  Levi  Preston  was  one  of  the  minutemen 
of  Danvers  who  ran  sixteen  miles  to  get  into  the  Lexington  fight.  Nearly 
seventy  years  afterward,  Mr.  Chamberlain  interviewed  the  old  veteran  as 
to  his  reasons  that  April  morning.  "Oppressions?"  said  the  aroused 
veteran  ;"  what  were  they  ?  I  didn't  feel  any."  "Stamp  Act?"  "I 
never  saw  one  of  the  stamps."  "  Tea  tax  ?  "  "I  never  drank  a  drop  of 
the  stuff ;  the  boys  threw  it  all  overboard."  "  Well,  I  suppose  you  had 
been  reading  Sidney  or  Locke  about  the  eternal  principles  of  liberty." 
"Never  heard  of  them.  We  read  only  the  Bible,  the  Catechism,  Watt's 
Hymns,  and  the  Almanac."  "  Then  what  did  you  mean  by  going  into 
that  fight?"  "  Young  man,  what  we  meant  in  going  for  those  redcoats 
was  this :  we  always  had  governed  ourselves,  and  we  always  meant  to. 
They  didn't  mean  ice  should.11 

iJVtany  shrewd  observers  (John  Adams  among  others)  believed  that  the 
Revolution  was  caused  largely  by  dread  of  ecclesiastical  interference.  Several 
times  it  had  been  suggested  that  England  should  establish  bishops  in  America. 
Even  the  most  strongly  Episcopalian  colonies,  like  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
resisted  this  proposal  (needful  as  bishops  were  to  the  true  efficiency  of  their 
form  of  church  organization)  because  of  the  political  power  of  such  officers  of 
the  church  at  that  time.  (See  cut  on  p.  186.)  After  the  Revolution  a  bishop, 
consecrated  in  England,  was  received  without  a  murmur. 

185 


A  COLONIAL  CARTOON  suggested  by  a  proposal  of  Lord  Hillsborough, 
Colonial  Secretary,  to  send  a  bishop  to  America. 

186 


§  226]  ENGLISH  INTERFERENCE  187 

225.  In  growing  up,  America  had  grown  away  from  England. 

If  all  of  England  had  been  picked  up  in  the  seventeenth  century 
and  set  down,  strung  out  along  the  thousand  miles  of  American 
coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  its  development  during  the  next 
two  centuries  would  have  been  very  different  from  what  it  actu 
ally  was  in  the  little  European  island.  The  new  physical  con 
ditions  would  have  caused  a  difference.  But  not  all  England 
had  been  transplanted,  only  certain  selected  people  and  selected 
institutions,  —  upon  the  whole,  too,  the  more  democratic  elements. 
No  hereditary  nobility  was  established  in  America,  and  neither 
monarch  nor  bishop  in  person  appeared  in  American  society. 
No  wonder,  then,  that  by  1775  European  English  and  Ameri 
can  English  could  no  longer  understand  each  other's  ideas. 

226.  Thus  both  sections  of  Englishmen  clung  to  the  doctrine 
"  No  taxation  without  representation  "  ;   but  these  words  meant 
one  thing  in  England  and  a  very  different  thing  in  America. 
In  England,  since  1688,  representative  institutions  had  been  shrink 
ing, —  becoming  more  and  more  virtual.1     In  America,  represent 
ative  institutions   had   been   expanding,  —  becoming   more  and 
more  real.     The  English   system  had  become,  in  Macaulay's 
words,  "a   monstrous   system  of   represented   ruins   and  un 
represented  cities."     Many  populous  cities  had  grown  up  with 
out  gaining  representation,  while  many  decayed  cities,  perhaps 
without  a  single  inhabitant,  or  with  only  a  handful  of  voters 
(pocket  or  rotten  boroughs),  kept  their  ancient  "representa 
tion."      In   reality,   a   small   body   of  landlords   appointed  a 
majority  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  many  "  representa 
tives  "  were  utterly  unknown  in  the  places  they  "  represented." 

To  an  Englishman,  accustomed  to  this  system,  and  content 
with  it,  "  No  taxation  without  representation  "  meant  no  taxa 
tion  by  royal  edict :  no  taxation  except  by  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  a  "  representative  "  body.  Such  an  Englishman  might 
argue  (as  Lord  Mansfield  did)  that  parliament  represented 

1  A  concise  three-page  account  of  that  shrinkage  of  representative  govern 
ment  in  England  in  the  eighteenth  century  will  be  found  in  the  Modern  World, 
§§  741-743. 


188  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND          -     [§227 

Massachusetts  as  much  as  it  did  the  English  Manchester,  which 
equally  with  Massachusetts  was  without  votes  for  parliament. 
There  were  more  men  in  England  who  were  taxed  and  who 
could  not  vote  than  there  were  inhabitants  in  all  America. 
Parliament  virtually  represented  the  colonies,  and  therefore 
had  the  right  to  tax  them. 

The  argument  was  weak,  even  if  representation  was  to  re 
main  "  virtual."  Manchester,  though  without  votes,  was  sure 
to  influence  parliament,  and  to  be  understood  by  parliament, 
far  better  than  distant  Massachusetts. 

But  the  American  was  not  content  with  virtual  representa 
tion  :  he  was  accustomed  in  his  own  colony  to  real  representa 
tion.  True,  there  were  imperfections  in  the  American  system. 
Some  colonies,  notably  Pennsylvania  and  the  Carolinas,  had 
been  slow  to  grant  a  proper  share  in  their  legislatures  to  their 
own  western  counties  (§  231).  But,  upon  the  whole,  the  elec 
toral  districts  were  about  equal  in  population ;  the  franchise 
was  extended  far  enough  to  reach  most  men  with  a  little  prop 
erty;  and  each  little  district  chose  for  its  representative,  at 
frequent  intervals,  a  man  living  in  its  midst  and  well  known 
to  the  voters.  To  the  American,  "  No  taxation  without  repre 
sentation  "  meant  no  taxation  except  by  a  representative  body 
in  his  own  colony,  chosen  under  such  conditions  as  these.1  In 
this  dispute  the  Englishman  stood  upon  the  old  meaning  of  the 
phrase.  The  American  stood  for  a  new  meaning,  truer  and  higher, 
more  in  accord  with  future  progress. 

227.  The  problem,  however,  was  not  merely  about  taxation  : 
it  was  a  question,  also,  of  maintaining  the  unity  of  the  British 

i  In  1774  a  public  meeting  in  Fairfax  County,  Virginia,  presided  over  by 
George  Washington,  adopted  a  long  list  of  resolutions,  —  among  them  the  fol 
lowing  :  "  That  the  powers  over  the  people  of  America,  now  claimed  by  the 
British  House  of  Commons,  —  in  whose  election  we  have  no  share ;  in  whose 
determinations  we  have  no  influence ;  whose  information  must  always  be 
defective  .  .  .  who  in  many  instances  rnay  have  a  separate,  and  in  some  an 
opposite  interest  to  ours ;  and  who  are  removed  from  those  impressions  of  ten 
derness  and  compassion  arising  from  personal  intercourse  .  .  .  must,  if 
continued,  establish  the  most  grievous  .  .  .  tyranny." 


§  228]  VALUE   OF  THE  UNION  189 

Empire,  —  the  greatest  free  state  the  world  had  ever  seen.  To 
preserve  that  state  appealed  to  a  noble  patriotism  on  both 
sides  the  Atlantic. 

Most  people,  too,  thought  union  with  England  essential  to 
the  very  existence  of  the  colonies.  Plainly  the  separate  colo 
nies  were  too  weak  to  stand  alone ;  and  their  union,  except 
through  England,  seemed  the  wildest  of  dreams.  During  the 
past  seventy  years,  colony  after  colony,  for  time  after  time, 
had  been  guilty  of  sacrificing  the  safety  of  a  neighbor  to  sordid 
parsimony  or  to  mean  jealousy. 

Any  detailed  story  of  the  Intercolonial  wars  abounds  in  illustrations. 
One  has  already  been  noticed,  in  §  219.  Massachusetts  once  exposed  her 
own  borders,  together  with  those  of  other  New  England  colonies,  to  the 
ravages  of  torch  and  tomahawk,  because  the  legislature  disliked  certain 
capable  officers  (Fiske's  New  France  and  New  England,  242  ff.). 
Peter  Kalm  (§  214)  wrote  :  "It  has  commonly  happened  that  while  some 
provinces  have  been  suffering  from  their  enemies,  the  neighboring  ones 
were  quiet  and  inactive  .  .  .  as  if  it  did  not  in  the  least  concern  them. 
They  have  frequently  taken  two  or  three  years  in  considering  whether 
they  should  give  assistance.  ..."  And  even  James  Otis  wrote,  in  1765  : 
u  God  forbid  these  colonies, should  ever  prove  undutiful  to  their  mother 
country.  .  .  .  Were  the  colonies  left  to  themselves  to-morrow,  America 
would  be  a  mere  shambles  of  blood  and  confusion.1'' 

Englishmen  argued  that  the  essential  unity  of  the  empire 
could  be  preserved  only  by  recognizing  a  supreme  power  in 
parliament  to  bind  all  parts  of  the  empire  in  all  matters  what 
soever,  including  taxation.  Americans  confessed,  gratefully, 
that  union  with  England  was  "  the  source  of  our  greatest  hap 
piness  " ;  but  they  denied  the  authority  of  parliament  to  tax 
them,  and  so  were  soon  driven  to  deny  any  authority  in 
parliament. 

228.  The  situation  was  new.  Within  two  or  three  genera 
tions,  England  had  been  transformed  from  a  little  island  state, 
with  a  few  outlying  plantations,  into  the  center  of  a  world 
empire.  Within  the  same  period,  the  relative  power  of  king 
and  parliament  had  shifted  greatly  in  England  itself.  This 
change  made  necessary  a  new  relation  between  parliament  and 


190  SEPARATION  FROM   ENGLAND  [§  228 

the  colonies  ;    but  just  what  that  relation  ought  to  be  ivas  not 
agreed. 

The  most  promising  theory,  in  accord  with  the  new  conditions, 
was  the  one  stated  in  a  noble  passage  toward  the  close  of  Burke's 
great  oration  on  American  taxation. 

"Hook  upon  the  imperial  rights  of  Great  Britain  and  the  privileges 
which  the  colonists  ought  to  enjoy  under  those  rights  to  be  just  the  most 
reconcilable  things  in  the  world.  The  parliament  of  Great  Britain  sits  at 
the  head  of  her  extensive  empire  in  two  capacities :  one  as  the  local  legis 
lature  of  this  island.  .  .  .  The  other,  and  I  think  her  nobler,  capacity  is 
what  I  call  her  imperial  character,  in  which,  as  from  the  throne  of  heaven, 
she  superintends  all  the  inferior  legislatures,  and  guides  and  controls  them 
all,  without  annihilating  any.  ...  It  is  necessary  to  coerce  the  negligent, 
to  restrain  the  violent,  and  to  aid  the  weak  ...  by  the  over-ruling  pleni 
tude  of  her  power."  Parliament,  the  orator  continues,  is  not  to  intrude 
into  the  place  of  an  inferior  colonial  legislature  while  that  body  answers  to 
its  proper  functions  ;  "  but,  to  enable  parliament  to  accomplish  these  ends 
of  beneficent  superintendence,  her  power  must  be  boundless,"  —  including 
even  the  power  to  tax,  Burke  adds  explicitly,  though  he  regards  that  as  a 
reserve  power,  to  be  used  only  in  the  last  extremity,  as  "an  instrument 
of  empire,  not  a  means  of  supply." 

That  is,  Burke  would  have  had  parliament  recognized  as 
possessing  absolute  power,  in  order  that  at  need  it  might  pre 
serve  the  empire  ;  but  he  would  have  had  it  waive  its  authority 
in  ordinary  times  in  favor  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists  to  self- 
government  through  their  local  legislatures.1 

But  to  work  this  plan  of  Burke 's  called  for  tact  and  generosity, 
especially  while  the  two  parts  of  the  English  world  were  get 
ting  used  to  the  new  conditions.  Neither  tact  nor  generosity 

1  This  plan  was  better  than  the  absurd  contention  to  which  William  Pitt 
was  driven,  —  that  Parliament  might  govern  the  colonies  in  all  other  matters 
but  might  not  tax  them,  because  "  taxation  is  no  part  of  the  governing  or 
legislative  power."  When  Pitt's  great  intellect  could  find  no  way  but  this  to 
reconcile  freedom  and  empire,  the  difficulty  must  have  been  great  indeed. 
One  solution  would  have  been  correct  theoretically,  —  to  give  the  colonies 
representation  in  a  reformed  parliament.  This  plan  was  suggested  by  James 
Otis,  and  was  approved  by  Franklin  in  America  and  by  Adam  Smith  in  Eng 
land  ;  but,  in  practice,  representation  of  the  colonies  could  not  have  worked 
in  that  day,  while  steam  and  electricity  had  not  yet  conquered  time  and  space. 


§  230]  FUNDAMENTAL  CAUSES  191 

marked  Charles  Townshend  or  Lord  North ;  and  the  clumsy  ma 
chinery  of  government  broke  down. 

229.  Even  so,  parliament  let  the  ministry  drive  the  colonists  to 
rebellion  only  because  parliament  itself  represented  England  only 
virtually.     The  contention  between  King  George's  government 
and  the  colonies  had  become  intermingled  with  a  struggle  for 
the  reform  of  parliament  at  home.     For  some  time  the  Whig 
leaders  in  England  had  demanded  vehemently  that  the  franchise 
be  broadened  and  that  parliament  be  made  really  representative 
of  the  nation.      If  the  demand  of  the  Americans  regarding 
taxation  and  representation  were  granted,  then  it  would  not  be 
possible  for  the  government  much  longer  to  refuse  this  demand 
for  representation  by  English  cities  like  Manchester. 

But  this  was  just  what  George  III l  dreaded.  He  thought 
it  his  duty  to  recover  the  kingly  power  that  had  vanished  since 
the  English  Re  volution.  To  do  this,  he  must  be  able  to  con 
trol  parliament.  The  easiest  way  to  control  parliament  was  to 
pack  that  body  with  his  own  appointees  from  rotten  and  pocket 
boroughs.  In  a  reformed  parliament,  this  would  no  longer  be 
possible.  The  King,  therefore,  was  ready  to  force  on  a  war 
against  the  American  claim  in  order  to  shove  aside  the  reform 
movement  in  England. 

230.  The  American  Revolution  is  seen  imperfectly,  if  it  is 
looked  upon  solely  as  a  struggle  between  England  and  America. 
It  was  a  strife  of  principles.     It  was  a  part  of  a  thousand-year 
long  contest  between  the  English-speaking  people  and  their 
kings  for  more  political  liberty.     In  1776  the  most  advanced 
part  of  that  people  lived  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.     The 
popular  claims  were  made  here,  and  the  struggle  was  fought 

1  An  American  writer  says  well  of  George  III  (Ford,  American  Politics, 
344) :  "  In  his  private  life  he  exactly  fulfilled  the  popular  ideal  of  a  good 
ruler.  In  an  age  when  society  was  recklessly  dissolute,  he  was  chaste  in  con 
duct,  temperate  in  diet,  and  simple  in  manners.  While  irreligion  abounded, 
he  kept  a  virtuous  home,  whose  days,  beginning  with  family  prayer,  were 
passed  in  laborious  performance  of  duty."  King  George  was  exceedingly  con 
scientious,  but  exceedingly  wrong-headed  and  narrow-minded.  He  was  a  good 
man  but  a  bad  king. 


192  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND  [§  231 

out  here ;  but  in  many  ways  the  Revolution  was  a  true  civil  war. 
Many  Americans  were  not  in  favor  of  fighting,  and  many 
Englishmen  were  glad  that  America  did  fight. 

This  feeling  found  expression  even  within  parliament.  The 
resolution  of  Patrick  Henry  declaring  that  the  attempt  to  tax 
America,  if  successful,  would  result  in  the  ruin  of  British 
liberty  also,  was  echoed  by  the  great  speech  of  William  Pitt, 
when  he  "rejoiced"  that  America  had  resisted,  and  declared 
that  victory  over  the  colonies  would  be  of  ill  omen  for  English 
liberty  :  "  America,  if  she  fell,  would  fall  like  the  strong  man : 
she  would  embrace  the  pillars  of  the  state,  and  pull  down  the 
constitution  along  with  her."  When  troops  were  sent  to  Boston 
in  1774,  the  Earl  of  Rockingham  and  other  Whig  lords  pre 
sented  a  protest  to  be  inscribed  on  the  journals  of  parliament, 
and  the  Duke  of  Richmonl  broke  out:  "I  hope  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart  that  the  Americans  may  resist  and  get 
the  better  of  the  forces  sent  against  them."  Charles  Fox,  a 
Whig  leader,  spoke  of  Washington's  first  defeat  as  "  the  terrible 
news  from  Long  Island,"  and,  in  common  with  many  Whigs, 
repeatedly  called  the  American  cause  "  the  cause  of  liberty." 
As  late  as  1782,  only  four  months  before  peace  was  made, 
the  younger  William  Pitt  asserted  in  parliament  that  if  the 
House  of  Commons  had  not  imperfectly  represented  the  nation, 
it  would  never  have  been  possible  to  carry  on  that  "most 
accursed,  wicked,  barbarous,  cruel,  unjust,  and  diabolical  war." 

231.  The  American  movement  for  independence  was  intertwined, 
too,  with  a  social  upheaval.  This  social  unrest  had  three  phases. 

a.  In  nearly  all  the  colonies,  a  group  of  families  —  pets  of 
the  crown  or  of  the  proprietor  —  monopolized  office  and  special 
privilege.     Other   great   families   (like   the   Livingstones  and 
Schuylers  in  New  York)  felt  aggrieved,  and   therefore  were 
perhaps  more  inclined  to  the  movement  for  independence. 

b.  The  western  sections  of  many  colonies  l  felt  themselves  op 
pressed   by   the   older  sections.      The  inhabitants   of  the   new 

1  Notably  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Carolinas,  but  also,  in  some  degree,  of 
Virginia,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire. 


§  231]  SOCIAL  UPHEAVAL  IN  AMERICA  193 

western  counties  sometimes  differed  from  their  eastern  breth 
ren  in  religion  or  even  in  race ;  and  they  were  not  given  their 
fair  representation  in  the  colonial  legislature  which  taxed  and 
governed  them,  —  but  which  sometimes  failed  to  protect  them 
against  Indians.  In  1780  Thomas  Jefferson  declared  that 
"  19,000  men  below  the  Falls  [in  Virginia]  give  law  to  30,000 
in  other  [western]  parts'7  of  the  State.  Sheriffs  and  other 
officials  of  the  western  counties,  too,  were  often  non-residents, 
appointed  from  the  eastern  counties.  Law  courts  were  con 
trolled  by  the  older  sections ;  and  in  the  western  districts 
they  met  at  long  intervals  and  at  long  distances  from  much  of 
the  population.  And  fees  exacted  for  court  services  and  by  all 
these  appointed  officers  seemed  exorbitant,  and  were  sometimes 
made  so  by  disreputable  trickery. 

In  1763,  a  certain  Edmund  Fanning  was  appointed  Register  for  the 
county  of  Orange  in  western  North  Carolina.  It  was  commonly  reported 
that  he  was  impecunious  when  he  received  the  appointment,  and  that  he 
accumulated  £  10,000  in  two  years  by  extortion.  The  following  verses 
were  current  as  early  as  1765. 

"  When  Fanning  first  to  Orange  came, 

He  looked  both  pale  and  wan  ; 
An  old  patched  coat  upon  his  back, 

An  old  mare  he  rode  on. 
Both  man  and  mare  warn't  worth  five  pounds, 

As  I've  been  often  told; 
But  by  his  civil  robberies 

He's  laced  his  coat  with  gold." 

The  "  Regulators"  at  one  time  dragged  Fanning  from  the  courthouse 
by  the  heels  and  flogged  him,  and  at  a  later  date  burned  his  house. 

In  North  Carolina,  after  several  years  of  serious  friction,  the 
oppressed  pioneers  set  up  a  revolutionary  organization  in  1769 
known  as  committees  of  "  Regulators,"  to  prevent  the  collec 
tion  of  taxes.  But  the  eastern  counties,  which  controlled  the 
legislature,  raised  an  army,  and,  in  1772,  ended  the  "  War  of  the 
Regulation  "  after  a  bloody  campaign.  TJie  Regulation  was  not 
directed  in  any  way  against  England,  and  must  not  be  regarded 


194  SEPARATION  FROM  ENGLAND  .[§  231 

as  an  opening  campaign  of  the  Revolution.  Indeed,  the  militia 
that  restored  oppression  was  the  militia  which  three  years  later 
rose  against  England  ;  and  the  defeated  "  Regulators,"  refusing 
to  join  their  past  oppressors,  in  large  part  became  Tories.  But 
if  the  internal  conflict  could  have  been  delayed  three  or  four 
years,  the  Westerners  would  no  doubt  have  dominated  the  Rev 
olution  itself  in  their  State. 

That  was  what  happened  in  Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania  also 
was  on  the  verge  of  civil  war ;  but,  happily,  internal  conflict 
was  postponed  long  enough  so  that  in  the  disorders  of  the 
general  movement  against  England,  the  western  radicals,  with 
their  sympathizers  elsewhere  in  the  colony,  found  opportunity 
to  seize  the  upper  hand.  In  Pennsylvania,  the  Revolution 
was  a  true  internal  revolution.  Old  leaders  were  set  aside; 
the  franchise  was  extended  to  the  democratic  element ;  and  a 
new  reapportionment  brought  the  democratic  West  into  power.  In 
most  of  the  colonies  north  of  the  Carolinas,  a  like  influence 
was  felt  in  some  degree,  —  notably  in  Virginia  (§§  234,  444, 
note). 

c.  Even  in  the  older  sections  new  men  and  a  more  democratic 
portion  of  society  came  to  the  front.  Especially  in  the  years 
1774-1775,  the  weight  in  favor  of  resistance  to  English  control 
was  often  cast  by  a  "  union  of  mechanics,"  as  in  Charleston 
and  Philadelphia,  against  the  wishes  of  the  more  conservative 
merchants  and  professional  men. 

And  aristocratic  patriots,  like  John  Adams,  if  they  were  not 
to  fail,  had  to  accept  the  aid  not  only  of  the  artisans  but  even 
of  classes  still  lower,  —  men  who  had  not  possessed  a  vote 
but  who  now,  in  times  of  disorder,  often  seized  it.  In  many 
half-formal  elections  to  early  Revolutionary  "  conventions,"  the 
disfranchised  classes  voted,  —  sometimes  on  the  explicit  invita 
tion  of  the  Revolutionary  committees,  sometimes  because  it 
was  not  easy  to  stop  them.  Afterward,  the  new  State  govern 
ments  found  it  hard  not  to  recognize  in  some  degree  the  power 
that  had  helped  make  them  —  especially  as  they  continued  to 
need  that  help.  It  was  due  largely  to  the  nameless  workingmen, 


§  232]   THE   CHANGE   IN  AMERICAN  CHARACTER      195 

and  to  the  democratic  frontier  communities)  that  the  internal 
"revolution  "  widened  the  franchise  somewhat  and  did  away  with 
the  grossest  forms  of  Wliite  servitude. 

232.  Colonial  Americans  had  been  lazy.  Critics  so  unlike  as 
Hamilton  and  Jefferson  agree  in  ascribing  this  quality  to  their 
countrymen ;  and  all  foreign  observers  dwelt  upon  it  as  an 
American  trait.  But  within  forty  years  after  the  Revolution 
this  characteristic  had  been  replaced  by  that  restless,  pushing, 
nervous,  strenuous  activity  which  has  ever  since,  in  the  eyes  of 
all  peoples,  been  the  distinguishing  mark  of  American  life. 
One  great  factor  in  that  tremendous  and  sudden  change  in  a 
people's  character  ivas  the  Revolution,  because  it  opened  oppor 
tunities  more  equally  to  all,  and  so  called  forth  new  social  energies. 

Englishmen  of  that  day  sometimes  believed  sincerely  that 
the  Revolution  was  the  work  of  a  group  of  "  soreheads." 
George  Washington  as  a  youth  had  been  refused  a  coveted 
commission  in  the  British  Army.  Sam  Adams'  father  had 
been  ruined  by  the  wise  British  veto  of  a  proposed  Massachu 
setts  "  Land  Bank."  The  older  Otis  had  failed  to  secure  an 
appointment  on  the  Massachusetts  Bench.  Alexander  Hamil 
ton  was  a  penniless  and  briefless  law  student,  with  no  chance 
for  special  advancement  unless  by  fishing  in  troubled  waters. 

All  this,  of  course,  as  an  explanation  of  the  part  played  by 
Washington,  Adams,  Otis,  and  Hamilton,  was  as  absurd  as  was 
the  view  of  many  Americans  that  high-minded  men  like  Chief 
Justice  Oliver  and  Governor  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts 
were  Loyalists  simply  in  order  to  cling  to  office  and  salary. 
But  had  the  British  charge  been  true,  what  greater  condemna 
tion  could  be  devised  for  the  old  colonial  system  than  that 
under  it  George  Washington  could  not  get  a  petty  lieutenant's 
appointment,  and  that  a  genius  like  Hamilton  had  practically 
no  chance  for  advancement  unless  taken  up  by  some  great 
gentlemen?  Such  a  system  needed  overthrowing,  in  the  inter 
est,  not  of  these  individuals,  but  of  society  as  a  whole. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

TEN  YEARS   OF  AGITATION,  1765-1774 

233.  The  Stamp  Act  was  to  go  into  effect  in  November.     The 
news  reached  the  colonies  in  April  and  May.     The  colonists 
had  done  all  they  could  to  prevent  the  law  from  being  made ; 
but  now  that  it  ivas  law,  nearly  all  the  old  leaders  at  first 
expected  it  to  be  obeyed.     Even  Otis  declared  it  to  be  the  "  duty 
of  all  humbly  ...  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  supreme 
legislature."     And  Franklin  wrote  home,  —  thinking  chiefly,  it 
would  seem,  of  the  money  burden,  —  "  We  might  as  well  have 
hindered  the  sun's  setting.  .  .  .     Since  it  is  down  ...  let  us 
make  as  good  a  night  of  it  as  we  can.     Frugality  and  industry 
will  go  a  great  way  toward  indemnifying  us.'7     Franklin  even 
solicited  the  English  government  to  appoint  his  friends  as 
stamp  distributors. 

234.  But  while  the  old  leaders  sought  to  reconcile  them 
selves  to  the  law,  popular  discontent  was  smoldering ;  and  soon  a 
new  leader  fanned  it  into  flame.     May  29,  in  the  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses  (sitting  in  committee  of  the  whole),  Patrick  Henry 
moved  a  set  of  seven  resolutions  denouncing  the  Stamp  Act 
and  urging  resistance  to  it  (Source  Book,  No.  120  a). 

Henry  had  appeared  in  the  Assembly  for  the  first  time  only 
nine  days  before ;  and  in  the  "  most  bloody  debate  "  that  fol 
lowed  he  was  ridiculed  by  "  all  the  cyphers  of  the  aristocracy." 1 
Through  the  cordial  support  of  the  western  counties,  however, 
the  resolutions  were  approved.  The  next  day  the  House,  in 
regular  session,  adopted  five  of  them,  though  only  by  a  major- 

1  Thomas  Jefferson,  a  young  law  student,  stood  in  the  door,  and  has  left  us 
his  later  recollections  of  the  struggle. 

190 


§  236]  PATRICK  HENRY'S  RESOLUTIONS  197 

it}-  of  one  vote.  One  day  later  (the  last  day  of  the  session), 
Henry  having  started  home,  the  fifth  resolution  —  the  most 
important  of  the  five  —  was  expunged  from  the  record.  But 
meantime  the,  whole  seven  had  been  published  to  the  world; 
and  these  resolutions  "  rang  the  alarm  bell  for  the  continent" 

The  sixth  and  seventh  resolutions  (never  really  adopted)  asserted  that 
the  colonists  were  "not  bound  to  yield  obedience"  to  any  law  that  so 
imposed  taxation  upon  them  from  without,  and  denounced  any  one  who 
should  defend  such  taxation  as  an  "enemy  to  his  majesty's  colony." 
These  were  the  clauses  that  sanctioned  forcible  resistance. 

The  fifth  resolution  declared  that  every  attempt  to  vest  power  to  tax 
the  colonists  in  "  any  persons  whatsoever  "  except  the  colonial  Assemblies 
"  has  a  manifest  tendency  to  destroy  British  as  well  as  American  freedom."" 
It  was  in  the  debate  upon  this  resolution  that  Henry  startled  the  House 
by  his  famous  warning  from  history.  "Tarquin  and  Csesar,"  cried  his 
thrilling  voice,  "had  each  his  Brutus;  Charles  the  First,  his  Cromwell ; 
and  George  the  Third ' '  —  here  he  was  interrupted  by  cries  of  Treason  ! 
Treason  !  from  the  Speaker  and  royalist  members,  but  "  rising  to  a  loftier 
attitude,"  with  flashing  eye,  the  orator  continued,  —  "may  profit  by  their 
example.  If  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 

235.  On   the  day  that  Henry  moved   his   resolutions,  the 
Massachusetts   Assembly   invited  the   legislatures   of  the  other 
colonies  to  send  "  committees  "  to  a  general  meeting  at  New  York 
in  October.     At  first  the  suggestion  was  ignored ;   but  in  Au 
gust  and  September  (as   public  feeling  mounted   under   the 
stimulus   of  the   Virginia    resolutions),   colony  after   colony 
named  delegates,  and  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  duly  assembled. 
Fervently  protesting  loyalty  to  the  crown,  that  meeting  drew 
up  a  noble  Declaration  of  Rights  and  a  group  of  admirable 
addresses  to  king  and  parliament.     It  did  not  directly  suggest 
forcible  opposition;   but   it  helped,   mightily,   to   crystallize 
public  opinion,  and  to  give  dignity  to  the  agitation  against  the 
law.     Better   still,  it  prophesied  united  action.     Christopher 
Gadsden,  delegate  from  South  Carolina,  exclaimed  — "  There 
ought  to  be  no  New  England  man,  no  New  Yorker,  known  on 
this  continent ;  but  all  of  us,  Americans." 

236.  Meanwhile,  payment  of  debts  to  British  creditors  was 


198         REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,    1765-1775      [§  237 

generally  suspended,1  and  local  associations  pledged  themselves 
to  import  no  British  goods  until  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  re 
pealed.  More  violent  resistance  was  taken  care  of  by  secret 
societies  known  as  Sons  of  Liberty,  which  terrorized  the  stamp 
distributors  and  compelled  hesitating  merchants  to  obey  the 
non-importation  arguments.  In  various  places,  supporters  of 
the  law  were  brutally  handled.  A  Boston  mob  sacked  the 
house  of  Thomas  Hutchiiison ;  and  Andrew  Oliver,  stamp  dis 
tributor  for  Massachusetts,  standing  under  the  "  Liberty  Tree  " 
(on  which  he  had  been  hanged  in  effigy  shortly  before),  was 
forced,  in  the  presence  of  two  thousand  people,  to  swear  to  a 

solemn  "  recantation 
and  detestation "  of 
his  office  before  a  jus 
tice  of  the  peace. 
When  the  day  came 
for  the  law  to  go  into 
effect  every  stamp  dis 
tributor  on  the  conti 
nent  had  been  "per 
suaded  "  into  resign 
ing?  and  no  stamps 
were  to  be  had. 
After  a  short  period 
of  hesitation,  the 
courts  opened  as  usual 

in  most  of  the  colonies,  newspapers  resumed  publication,  and 
all  forms  of  business  ignored  the  law. 

237.    In  England  the  ministry  had  changed,  and  the  new 
government  was  amazed  at  the  uproar  in  the  colonies.     It  was 


A  HANDBILL  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  SONS  OF 
LIBERTY.      From  O'Callaghan's  Documents. 


1  This  method  of  coercing  English  public  opinion  was  renewed  in  the  later 
period  of  the  struggle.    In  1774  George  Washington  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
England :  "  As  to  withholding  our  remittances,  that  is  a  point  on  which  I  own 
I  have  my  doubts  on  several  accounts,  but  principally  on  that  of  justice." 

2  The  Source  Book,  No.  120  c,  gives  the  royal  governor's  story  of  the  sur 
render  of  the  distributor  for  Virginia. 


238] 


SONS   OF  LIBERTY 


199 


deluged,  too,  with  petitions  for  repeal  from  English  merchants, 
who  already  felt  the  loss  of  American  trade  ;  and,  after  one  of 
the  greatest  of  parliamentary  debates,  the  Stamp  Act  was  re 
pealed  (March  17,  1766).  No  serious  attempt  had  been  made 
to  enforce  it,  and  no  demand  was  made  for  the  punishment  of 
the  rioters.  The  English  government  did  ask  the  colonial 
assemblies  to  compensate  citizens  who  had  suffered  in  the 
riots  ;  but  even  this  request  was  attended  to  very  imperfectly. 


THE 

PENNSYLVANIA  JOURNAL. 

A  JT  D 

WEEKLY    ADVERTISER. 


EXPIRING.     In  Hop**  of  *  Refumetion  (o  Lin  again. 


fenytob.  ob)VMIbartlMBu>th<n'  h« though*  iUip. 
^Zwt  rrvy  He^IWToP  Ltd*.  mttxkrlodtfUnte, 
ihttMTtM^TAWP- 1  »b»r any  McOxxt*  an  fee  found  (0 
ob.|Chwi3f«*|«drorl>*  mUCaf* 

Slwery ,  whkh  it 


WILLIAM  JWADI-ORD 


A  REDUCED  FACSIMILE,  from  Sc&arf  and  Wescott's  History  of  Philadelphia. 
The  skull  and  crossbones  take  the  place  of  the  stamp  required  by  law. 
This  paper  resumed  publication  in  one  week  without  stamps. 

238.  Within  a  few  months  the  English  ministry  was  changed 
once  more.  Pitt  was  the  head  of  the  new  government ;  and, 
excepting  for  Charles  Townsheiid,  all  its  members  were  "  friends 
of  America."  But  ill-health  soon  forced  Pitt  to  give  up  the 
active  management  of  affairs,  and  the  brilliant  but  unscrupulous 
Townshend,  backed  by  the  King,  seized  the  leadership.  "From 
this  time,"  says  Lecky, "  the  conduct  of  the  government  toward 
America  is  little  more  than  a  series  of  deplorable  blunders." 


200         REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,   1765-1775      [§  239 

Townshend  turned  promptly  to  schemes  of  American  taxation, 

and  in  May,  1767,  he  secured  the  enactment  of  tariff  duties  on 
glass,  red  and  white  lead,  paper,  painters'  colors,  and  tea  imported 
into  the  colonies.  In  the  Stamp  Act  discussions,  some  Ameri 
cans  had  objected  to  the  stamp  duties  as  an  internal  tax.  Now 
Townshend  cynically  professed  his  readiness  to  give  them  the 
external  taxation  they  preferred.  This  tone  was  bad  enough 
to  a  sensitive  people  flushed  with  recent  victory ;  and  two 
other  features  made  the  bill  unendurable:  (1)  Trials  for  at 
tempts  to  evade  the  law  were  to  take  place  before  admiralty 
courts  without  juries ;  and  (2)  the  revenue  was  appropriated  to 
the  payment  of  colonial  governors  and  judges,  so  as  to  give  the 
crown  complete  control  over  such  officers.  (Cf.  §  189.) 

Thus  this  law  began  a  wholly  new  phase  of  the  struggle  with 
England.  In  the  Stamp  Act  period  the  honest  purpose  of  the 
English  Government  had  been  to  protect  the  colonies,  not  to  op 
press  them.  But  the  Townshend  law  was  a  wanton  attempt  to 
demonstrate  supremacy,  with  no  pretense  of  protecting  America. 

Townshend  died  that  same  summer;  but,  for  three  years, 
his  successor,  Lord  North,  maintained  his  policy.  Meantime  the 
American  continent  seethed  once  more  with  pamphlets,  ad 
dresses,  and  non-importation  agreements.  Assemblies  de 
nounced  the  law ;  royal  governors,  under  strict  instructions, 
ordered  them  to  rescind,  received  defiant  answers,  and  replied 
with  messages  of  dissolution.  Then,  in  the  absence  of  means 
for  legal  action,  the  colonists  turned  again  to  illegal  violence. 
Mobs  openly  landed  goods  that  had  paid  no  tax,  and  some 
times  tarred  and  feathered  the  customs  officials. 

239.  To  check  such  resistance  to  law,  parliament,  in  1769, 
added  to  its  offenses  by  providing  that  a  colonist,  accused  of  trea 
son,  might  be  carried  to  England  for  trial,  —  in  flat  defiance  of 
the  ancient  English  principle  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  the  neighbor 
hood.  This  threat  roused  Virginia  again.  Virginia  was  still 
the  most  important  colony.  It  had  been  less  affected  by  the 
Townshend  regulations  than  the  commercial  colonies  had 
been;  and  the  ministry  had  been  particularly  gentle  toward 


§  240]  THE  TOWNSHEND  ACTS  201 

it,  hoping  to  draw  it  away  from  the  rest  of  America.  But 
now  the  Assembly  unanimously l  adopted  resolutions  denounc 
ing  both  the  Towiisheiid  law  and  this  recent  attack  on  jury 
trial  as  unconstitutional  and  tyrannical.  Nicholas,  one  of  the 
Virginia  leaders,  declared  that  the  new  law  was  "  fraught  with 
worse  evils  than  the  Stamp  Act,  by  as  much  as  life  is  more 
precious  than  property " ;  and  George  Washington  affirmed 
that  it  touched  a  matter  "  on  which  no  one  ought  to  hesitate  to 
take  up  arms" 

The  governor  punished  the  House  by  immediate  dissolution 
(Source  Book,  121).  But  other  Assemblies  copied  the  Vir 
ginia  resolutions  or  adopted  similar  ones ;  and  non-importa 
tion  agreements,  enforced  by  semi-revolutionary  committees, 
became  nearly  universal. 

240.  During  this  turmoil,  came  the  Boston  "  Massacre." 
Two  regiments  of  British  regulars  had  been  sent  to  Boston, 
in  the  fall  of  1768,  to  overawe  that  turbulent  community. 
This  quartering  of  soldiery  upon  the  town  in  time  of  peace, 
not  for  protection,  but  for  intimidation,  was  one  more  infringe 
ment  of  fundamental  English  liberties.  Incessant  bickerings 
followed.  Town  officials  quarreled  with  the  royal  governor ; 
and  the  townspeople  and  the  soldiers  squabbled  and  indulged 
in  fisticuffs  in  the  streets.  The  troops  were  subjected  to  con 
stant  and  bitter  insult ;  and  on  the  evening  of  March  5,  1770, 
came  the  long-delayed  collision.  Soldiers  and  people  had  been 
called  into  the  streets  by  an  alarm  of  fire.  Various  fracases 
occurred.  In  particular,  a  sentinel  on  duty  was  pelted  with 
epithets  and  snowballs.  Six  or  seven  of  his  companions, 
under  an  officer,  came  to  his  rescue.  One  of  them,  hit  by  a 
club,  shot  an  assailant,  and  immediately  the  rest  of  the  squad, 
believing  an  order  to  fire  had  been  given,  discharged  a  volley 
into  the  crowd.  Five  persons  were  killed  and  six  injured. 

The  next  day,  on  the  demand  of  a  crowded  town  meeting, 
and  as  the  only  way  to  prevent  an  organized  attack  by  the 

1  The  Assembly  had  progressed  since  the  close  division  on  the  Henry  reso 
lutions  four  years  before. 


202         REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,    1765-1775      [§  241 

citizens  upon  the  troops,  Governor  Hutchinson  removed  the 
regiments  to  a  fort  in  the  harbor.  The  troops  had  behaved 
well  for  many  months,  under  intense  provocation,  and  are 
not  seriously  to  be  blamed.  The  mob,  no  doubt,  deserved 
blame.  But  the  chief  condemnation  falls  upon  the  British  min 
istry,  which  had  deliberately  created  the  situation  that  made 
this  "  Massacre  "  inevitable. 

Some  months  later,  the  soldiers  were  tried  before  a  Boston  jury. 
John  Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  leading  patriots,  volunteered  as  their 
counsel,  risking  gallantly  their  popularity  and  influence.  Two  of  the 
soldiers  were  punished  lightly ;  the  rest  were  acquitted. 

241.  The  Townshend  Acts  were  a  failure.     They  had  driven 
the  colonies  to  the  verge  of  rebellion.     Each  penny  collected 
under  them  had  cost  the  English  treasury  a  shilling,  and  Eng 
lish  merchants  were  suffering  keenly  from  the  colonial  non 
importation  policy.     On  the  day  of  the  Boston  Massacre,  Lord 
North  moved  the  repeal,  except  for  the  insignificant  tax  on  tea, 
giving  notice  also  that   the   government  would  lay  no   more 
taxes  in  America.     The  tea  tax  was  kept,  at  the  King's  insist 
ence,  —  to  mark  the  principle  of  parliamentary  supremacy. 

242.  But  instead  of  seeking  real  reconciliation,  the  British 
ministry  took  just  this  time  to  hector   the  various   colonial 
Assemblies  by  arbitrary  "  orders  "  on  many  different  subjects. 
When  the  Assemblies   protested,  the  governors,  under  strict 
instructions,   dissolved  them ;  and   at   other   times   the  usual 
liberties  of  the  Assemblies,  such  as  the  choice  of  Speaker  and 
place  of  meeting,  were  needlessly  infringed. 

During  these  disorders,  America  learned  to  organize  itself  in  a  semi- 
revolutionary  manner.  Committees  of  correspondence  here  and  there 
had  been  a  familiar  feature  of  the  agitation  ;  but  now  standing  commit 
tees  took  the  place  of  the  old  legal  Assemblies  and  town  meetings. 

243.  On  the  motion  of  Samuel  Adams,  in  November,  1772,  a 
Boston  town  meeting  appointed  a  committee  of  twenty-one  to  main 
tain  correspondence  with  the  other  towns  of  the  province  upon  the 
infringements  of  their  liberties  (Source  Book,  No.  122).     Some 
such  device  was  made  necessary  by  the  fact  that  the  Massa- 


§243] 


THE   BOSTON  MASSACRE 


203 


:^^ 


204         REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,    1765-1775      [§  244 

chusetts  Assembly  was  no  longer  free.  The  two  hundred 
towns  responded  promptly  by  appointing  similar  committees, 
and  soon  a  vigorous  correspondence  was  going  on  throughout 
this  complicated  network.  + 

"  Sam  Adams"  was  the  first  American  political  "  boss,"  in  the  better 
sense  of  the  word.  He  played  with  unfailing  skill  upon  the  many  strings 
of  the  town  meeting,  working  his  will  through  committees  and  faithful 
lieutenants.  He  has  been  called  "the  wedge  that  split  England  and 
America  asunder."  Dr.  Howard  says  of  him  (Preliminaries  of  the  Revo 
lution,  253,  254)  :  "He  possessed  precisely  the  qualities  which  belong  to 
a  consummate  revolutionary  leader.  The  very  narrowness  of  view  which 
often  prevented  him  from  seeing  the  merits  of  his  adversaries  only  added 
to  this  power.  He  had  unbounded  faith  in  democratic  self-government 
.  .  .  and  was  almost  fanatical  in  his  zeal  for  constitutional  liberty.  He 
had  indomitable  will,  great  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  unflinching  courage. 
.  .  .  He  was  poor  in  worldly  goods,  simple  in  manner  and  dress,  and 
able  to  enter  sympathetically  into  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  plain  men. 
Much  of  his  power  lay  in  his  ability  to  persuade  and  lead  the  fishermen, 
rope-makers,  and  ship-masters  of  Boston.  .  .  .  [He]  had  a  rare  talent 
for  practical  politics.  He  displayed  a  capacity  for  organization  sometimes 
lapsing  into  intrigue,  and  a  foresight  sometimes  sinking  into  cunning."  1 

244.  But  after  all,  each  colony  was  fairly  certain,  sooner  or 
later,  to  find  a  way  to  express  itself  through  some  revolutionary 
organization.  It  was  not  so  certain  that  the  thirteen  colonies 
could  be  united  by  revolutionary  machinery. 

Here  the  first  step  was  taken  by  Virginia.  The  occasion  arose 
out  of  the  burning  of  the  Gaspee,  a  revenue  schooner,  off  the 
Rhode  Island  coast  —  whose  commander  had  become  extremely 
obnoxious  to  the  colony.  In  pursuit  of  a  smuggler's  boat,  the 
Gaspee  ran  aground.  It  was  then  boarded  by  an  armed  mob, 
led  by  a  prominent  merchant.  The  commander  was  shot,  the 
crew  put  on  shore,  and  the  vessel  burned.  The  English  gov 
ernment  created  a  special  commission  to  secure  the  offenders 
for  trial  in  England.  But,  though  the  actors  were  well  known 

1  Every  student  should  read  Dr.  Hosmer's  delightful  biography  of  Samuel 
Adams  (Statesmen  Series).  In  a  much  earlier  essay  (in  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies) ,  Dr.  Hosmer  gave  to  his  hero  the  title  by  which  he  is  best 
known,  "  The  Man  of  the  Town  Meeting." 


§  246J  THE  BOSTON  TEA  PARTY  205 

to  large  numbers  of  people,  no  evidence  against  them  could  be 
secured ;  and,  indeed,  Stephen  Hopkins,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
colony,  declared  he  would  commit  to  prison  any  officer  who 
should  attempt  to  remove  a  citizen  from  the  limits  of  the 
commonwealth. 

Meantime,  as  in  1769  (§  239),  the  attempt  to  send  Americans 
to  England  for  trial  called  forth  ringing  resolutions  from  the 
Virginia  Assembly  (March  12,  1773).  But  this  time  the  As 
sembly  did  more  than  pass  resolutions.  It  appointed  a  stand 
ing  committee  for  intercolonial  correspondence,  and  by  formal 
letter  invited  all  other  Assemblies  in  America  to  appoint  similar 
means  of  intercourse  (Source  Boole ,  No.  123  6).  Within  three 
months,  committees  had  been  set  up  in  half  the  colonies,  and 
ere  long  the  machinery  was  complete.  July  2,  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Gazette  said  of  this  movement :  — 

"  The  Union  of  the  Colonies  which  is  now  taking  place  is  big  with  the 
most  important  Advantages  to  this  Continent.  .  .  .  Let  it  be  the  study 
of  all  to  make  the  Union  firm  and  perpetual,  as  it  will  be  the  great  Basis 
for  Liberty  and  every  public  Blessing  in  America. ' ' 

245-  The  next  step  toward  revolutionary  government  was  to  develop 
from  the  local  committees  a  Provincial  Congress,  in  colony  after  colony, 
and  from  the  intercolonial  committees  of  the  continent  a  Continental  Con 
gress.  This  was  brought  about  in  the  summer  and  fall  of 1774,  as  the  result 
of  three  events,  —  (i)  the  attempt  of  the  ministry  to  force  taxed  tea  down 
the  throats  of  the  colonists ;  (2)  the  answer  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party ; 
and  (3)  the  punishment  of  Boston  by  the  Port  Bill. 

246.  Ever  since  the  repeal  of  the  other  Townshend  duties, 
the  animosities  of  the  conflict  had  been  focused  on  the  one  taxed 
article,  tea.  For  six  years  the  colonists,  for  the  most  part,  had 
done  without  that  luxury  —  except  for  the  smuggled  article. 
In  April  of  1773  Lord  North  tried  an  appeal  to  American  avarice. 
Tea  paid  a  tax  of  a  shilling  a  pound  on  reaching  England,  and, 
under  the  Townshend  Act,  threepence  more  pn  importation  into 
America.  Parliament  now  arranged  that  a  rebate  of  the  Eng 
lish  tax  (and  of  some  other  burdens)  should  be  given  the  Tea 
Company  on  tea  reexported  to  America,  —  so  that  the  colonists 


206        REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,   1765-1775     [§  247 

would  pay  only  the  threepence  tax,  and  would  get  their  tea  cheaper 
than  Englishmen  could,  —  and  cheaper  than  it  could  be  smug 
gled.  Ships  loaded  with  this  gross  bait  were  at  once  dispatched 
to  the  chief  American  ports. 

247.  But  everywhere,  by  forcible  resistance,  the  colonists  kept 
the  tea  out  of  the  market.  At  Charleston  it  was  stored  for  years, 
until  seized  by  the  Revolutionary  government  in  1776.  At  New 
York,  Annapolis,  and  Philadelphia,  mobs  frightened  the  gov 
ernors  or  the  ship  captains  into  sending  back  the  tea-ships  with 
out  breaking  cargo. 

A  tea  ship  was  expected  at  Philadelphia  in  September.  The  "Liberty 
Boys"  of  that  city  distributed  a  handbill  among  the  Delaware  pilots  :  — 

"...  We  need  not  point  out  the  steps  you  ought  to  take  if  the  tea 
ship  falls  in  your  way.  .  .  .  This  you  may  depend  upon,  —  that  what 
ever  pilot  brings  her  into  the  river,  such  pilot  will  be  marked  for  his 
treason.  .  .  .  Like  Cain,  he  will  be  hung  out  as  a  spectacle  to  the  nations 
...  as  the  damned  traitorous  pilot  who  brought  up  the  tea  ship.  .  .  . 
(Signed)  THE  COMMITTEE  FOR  TARRING  AND  FEATHERING." 

Another  broadside  was  addressed  to  the  Captain  of  the  expected  ship  :  — 
"What  think  you,  Captain,  of  a  Halter  round  your  Neck,  ten  gallons 
of  liquid  Tar  decanted  on  your  Pate,  with  the  feathers  of  a  dozen  wild 
Geese  laid  over  that,  to  enliven  your  appearance." 

All  this  was  weeks  before  the  Boston  episode.  The  Philadelphia  ship, 
however,  did  not  arrive  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  until  four  or  five  days 
after  the  Boston  Tea  Party  ;  and  it  then  sailed  back  to  England  without 
trying  to  reach  the  city. 

In  Boston  the  "  Tories "  were  made  of  sterner  stuff,  and 
the  dash  was  more  serious.  Governor  Hutchinson  had  stationed 
warships  in  the  channel  to  prevent  the  timid  owner  of  three 
tea  vessels  from  sending  them  away ;  and  the  customs  officials 
prepared  to  land  the  tea  by  a  force  of  marines  as  soon  as  the 
legal  interval  should  expire.  (Ships  were  allowed  to  remain 
only  twenty  days  .in  the  harbor  without  unloading.)  Boston 
exhausted  all  means  but  actual  violence,  —  and  then  used  that 
so  skillfully  as  to  avoid  bloodshed.  At  the  last  moment,  a 
town  meeting  resolved  itself  into  a  band  of  Mohawks  ("  with 


§  249]  THE  BOSTON  PORT  BILL  207 

whom,"  says  Carlyle,  "Sam  Adams  could  speak  without  an 
interpreter  "),  and,  seizing  the  vessels  before  they  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  officials,  emptied  into  Boston  harbor  some 
ninety  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  tea  (December  16,  1773). 

248.  The  short-sighted  English  government  replied  with  a  series 
of  "  repressive  acts  "  *  to  punish  Massachusetts.    Town  meetings 
were  forbidden,  except  as  authorized  in  writing  by  the  governor, 
and  for  business  specified  by  him.     All  courts,  high  and  low, 
with  all  their  officials,  were  made  absolutely  dependent  upon 
his  appointing  and  removing  power.     /So  far  as  the  election  of 
the  Council  was  concerned,  the  charter  of  1691  was  set  aside,  and 
the  appointment  given  to  the  crown.     Most  effective  in  rousing 
American  indignation  was  another  act  of  this  series,  the  Boston 
Port  Bill,  which  closed  the  port  of  Boston  to  commerce,  with 
provision  for  a  blockade  by  ships  of  war. 

Since  the  entire  population  depended,  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  com 
merce  for  their  living,  the  town  was  threatened  with  starvation.  Food 
and  fuel  at  once  became  scarce  and  costly,  and  great  numbers  of  men 
were  unemployed.  But  all  parts  of  America  joined  in  sending  money 
and  supplies.  South  Carolina  gave  cargoes  of  rice ;  Philadelphia  gave  a 
thousand  barrels  of  flour ;  from  Connecticut  came  Israel  Putnam  driving 
before  him  his  flock  of  sheep. 

249.  May  12,  two  days  after  the  arrival  of  the  news   of 
the  "  Intolerable  Acts,"  the  committees  of  eight  near-by  towns 
met  at  Boston.     This  gathering  sent  letters  to  the  correspon 
dence  committees  of  the  thirteen  colonies  suggesting  that  all 
America  should  "  consider  Boston  as  suffering  in  the  common 
cause,  and  resent  the  injury  inflicted  upon  her." 

1  Classed  with  these  acts,  in  the  minds  of  the  colonists,  was  the  Quebec  Act 
which  was  passed  at  the  same  time.  This  legalized  the  Catholic  religion,  and 
restored  part  of  the  French  law,  for  Canada.  The  design  was  to  conciliate 
the  French  settlers  (almost  the  sole  population) ,  and  to  set  up  some  authority 
to  deal  with  the  existing  anarchy  in  the  fur-trade  regions.  No  act  of  the 
series,  however,  caused  more  bitter  suspicion  among  the  English  colonies, 
with  their  bigoted  fear  of  Catholicism.  The  same  act  extended  "Quebec"  to 
include  the  unsettled  district  west  of  the  mountains  between  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  Ohio. 


208         REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,    1765-1775      [§  250 

The  first  official  response  came  from  Virginia.  May  24,  1774, 
the  House  of  Burgesses  set  apart  June  1  (when  the  Port  Bill 
was  to  go  into  effect)  "as  a  Day  of  Fasting,  Humiliation, 
and  Prayer,  devoutly  to  implore  the  divine  interposition  for 
averting  the  heavy  Calamity  which  threatens  Destruction  to 
our  Civil  Rights,  and  the  Evils  of  civil  War,  and  to  give  us 
one  heart  and  one  Mind  firmly  to  oppose  by  all  just  and  proper 
means  every  injury  to  American  Rights."  Two  days  later  the 
governor  dissolved  the  Assembly  with  sharp  rebuke. 

On  the  following  day,  the  ex-Burgesses  (influential  citizens 
still)  met  at  the  Raleigh  Tavern,  and  recommended  an  annual 
congress  of  delegates  from  all  the  colonies  "  to  deliberate  on  those 
general  measures  which  the  united  interests  of  America  may 
from  time  to  time  require.'7  Here  was  a  suggestion  for  permanent 
continental  revolutionary  government.  A  second  meeting  of  the 
ex-Burgesses,  on  May  31,  catted  a  Convention  of  deputies  from 
Virginia  counties,  to  meet  at  Williamsburg  on  August  1,  in  order 
to  appoint  Virginia  delegates  for  the  proposed  continental  con-  • 
gress  and  to  consider  a  plan  for  non-intercourse  with  England. 
During  June  and  July  all  the  counties  of  Virginia  ratified  this 
call  in  county  courts,  by  authorizing  their  ex-Burgesses  to  act 
for  them  at  the  proposed  Convention,  or  by  choosing  new  rep 
resentatives  to  do  so.  Here  ivere  the  germs  of  revolutionary 
machinery  for  county  and  state. 

250.  On  this  suggestion  from  Virginia,  all  the  colonies  but 
Georgia  chose  delegates  to  a  congress,  to  meet  September  1  at 
Philadelphia.  We  know  this  "  First  Continental  Congress  "  of 
1774  only  from  letters  and  later  recollections  of  some  of  its 
members  and  from  imperfect  notes  taken  at  the  time  by  two 
or  three  delegates  (Source  Book).  It  sat  six  weeks,  and  was  a 
notable  gathering,  —  although  forty  years  afterwards  John 
Adams  described  it  as '"one  third  Tories,  one  third  Whigs  and 
the  rest  Mongrels." 

The  Moderate  party  (Adams'  "  Tories  ")  desired  still  to  use 
only  constitutional  agitation  to  secure  redress  of  grievances. 
This  element  was  led  by  Joseph  Galloway  of  Pennsylvania, 


§251] 


VIRGINIA  CALLS  A  CONGRESS 


209 


supported  by  John  Jay  of  New  York  and  Edward  Rutledge  of 
South  Carolina.  The  Radicals  insisted  that,  as  a  prelude  to 
reconciliation  with  England,  the  ministry  must  remove  its 
troops  and  repeal  its  acts. 

After  strenuous  debate,  Galloway's  proposals  were  rejected 
by  a  vote  of  six  colonies  to  five.  The  Congress  then  recommended 
the  Radical  plan  of  a  huge  universal  boycott,  in  the  form  of  a 
solemn  Association.  The  signers  were  to  bind  themselves 
neither  to  import  any 
British  goods  nor  to  ex 
port  their  own  products 
to  Great  Britain.  To 
enforce  this  agreement, 
efficient  machinery  was 
recommended.  Every  town 
and  county  was  advised  to 
choose  a  committee,  act 
ing  under  the  supervi 
sion  of  the  central  com 
mittee  of  its  province, "  to 
observe  the  conduct  of 
all  persons,"  and  to  have 
all  violations  "  published 
in  the  gazette,"  that  the 
foes  to  the  rights  of 
America  might  be  "uni 
versally  contemned." 


CARPENTERS'  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA,  where 
met  the  Continental  Congress.  From  a 
photograph. 


251.  The  "First  Continental  Congress  "  was  not  a  legislature  nor  a 
government.  The  name  "congress"  was  used  to  indicate  its  informal 
character.  No  governing  body  had  ever  held  that  name.  It  was  a  meet 
ing  for  consultation.  It  claimed  no  authority  to  do  more  than  advise  and 
recommend. 

The  delegates  had  been  elected  in  exceedingly  informal  fashion,1  —  by 
a  part  of  a  legislature,  called  together  perhaps  in  an  irregular  way  ;  or  by 
a  committee  of  correspondence ;  or  by  a  mass  meeting  of  some  small  part 


1  Details  are  given  in  West's  American  History  and  Government. 


210         REVOLUTIONARY  AGITATION,    1765-1775      [§  251 

of  a  colony,  claiming  to  speak  for  the  whole  ;  or,  in  six  colonies,  by  a  new 
sort  of  gatherings  known  as  provincial  conventions,  similar  to  that  in 
Virginia  (§  249).  None  of  this  first  series  of  provincial  conventions  sat 
more  than  five  or  six  days  (most  of  them  only  for  a  day)  :  and  none  took 
any  action  except  to  appoint  delegates  to  Philadelphia  'and  to  instruct 
them,  —  except  that  one  or  two  provided  for  a  second  convention,  to  be 
held  after  the  Continental  Congress. 

EXERCISE.  —  Distinguish  between  a  Continental  Congress  and  a  Pro 
vincial  Congress,  or  Provincial  Convention  (both  names  were  used). 
Note  the  series  of  events  leading  to  the  First  Continental  Congress.  If 
you  could  name  only  one  of  those  events  as  the  occasion,  what  one  would 
you  select?  Distinguish,  for  this  period,  between  a  "provincial  conven 
tion"  and  a  "provincial  Assembly." 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  — The  Source  Book  is  very  full  for  this  and 
the  following  chapter.  The  history  of  the  Revolution  in  Virginia  may 
be  traced,  in  outline,  in  that  volume,  Nos.  120-129.  For  secondary 
authorities  on  the  whole  period,  Howard's  Preliminaries  of  the  Revolution 
and  VanTyne's  American  Revolution  ("  American  Nation"  series)  make 
together  an  admirable  treatment.  Woodburn's  Lecky's  American  Rev 
olution  should  be  accessible,  as  a  scholarly  treatment  by  a  great  English 
historian.  Fiske's  two  volumes  on  the  Revolution  are  delightful  reading. 
Trevelyan's  American  Revolution  is  probably  the  best  history  of  the 
period,  but  it  is  rather  bulky  for  high  school  students.  Though  written 
by  an  Englishman,  it  is  sympathetically  American  in  tone,  and  it  is 
brilliant  in  treatment.  Channing's  third  volume,  dealing  with  the  Revo 
lution,  is  a  critical  study,  but  less  readable  than  his  earlier  volumes. 


CHAPTER   XXII 
FROM  COLONIES   TO  COMMONWEALTHS,   1775-1776 

252.  The  Assemblies  of  New  York  and  Georgia  refused  to 
ratify  the  recommendations  of  the  Continental  Congress.     But 
within  six  months  all  other  colonies  had  adopted  the  Association 
—  either  by  their  regular  Assemblies  or   by  "  conventions  " ; 
and   everywhere   "committees  of  public   safety"   and   mobs 
were  terrorizing  reluctant  individuals  into  signing.     Tar  and 
feathers  and  "  the  birch  seal "  became  common  means  of  per 
suasion  ;  and  Moderates  complained  bitterly  that,  in  the  name 
of  liberty,  the  populace  refused  all  liberty  of  speech  or  action. 
A  great  revolution,  however  righteous,  is  sure  to  have  its  ugly 
phases. 

253.  The   issue   had   changed.     The   question,   now,  was  not 
approval  or  disapproval  of  Parliamentary  taxation,  but  whether 
resistance   should  be  forcible.      The  radical   "  Patriots "   were 
probably  a  minority ;  but  they  were  aggressive  and  organized, 
and  eventually  they  whipped  into  line  the  great  body  of  timid 
and  indifferent   people.      On   the  other  hand,  many   earnest 
"  Patriots "  of   the  preceding   period  now  became  "  Tories " 
from  repugnance  to  armed  rebellion  or  to  mob  rule.1     Thus 
party  lines  were  drawn  more  clearly. 

In  the  few  cities  the  revolutionary  movement  fell  largely  to 
the  democratic  artisan  class.  June  1,  1774,  the  governor  of 
New  York,  writing  to  the  English  government  on  the  excite 
ment  about  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  says  :  — 

"The  Men  who  call'd  themselves  the  Committee  [in  New  York] — 
who  acted  and  dictated  in  the  name  of  the  People  —  were  many  of  them 
of  the  lower  Rank,  and  all  the  warmest  zealots.  .  .  .  The  more  con- 

1  See,  in  Source  Book,  No.  140,  how  even  John  Adams  was  disturbed  by 
the  glee  of  his  horse-jockey  client  at  the  closing  of  the  courts. 

211 


212        FROM   COLONIES  TO  COMMONWEALTHS     [§  254 


siderable  Merchants  and  Citizens  seldom  or  never  appeared  among  them, 
but,  I  believe,  were  not  displeased  with  the  Clamor  and  opposition  that 
was  shown  against  internal  Taxation  by  Parliament." 

254.  In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1775,  regular  legal  govern 
ment  broke  down.  In  colony  after  colony,  the  governors  re 
fused  to  let  the  legislature 
meet,  and  the  people  re 
fused  to  let  the  governors- 
courts  or  other  officials 
act.  Then  in  many  places, 
to  prevent  absolute  law 
lessness,  county  meetings 
or  local  committees  set  up 
some  sort  of  provisional 
government,  to  last  until 
"  the  restoration  of  har 
mony  with  Great  Brit- 

During  this  turbulent 
disorder,  second  provincial 
conventions  were  held  in 
several  colonies,  to  act 
upon  the  recommenda 
tions  of  the  First  Conti 
nental  Congress.  Some 
of  these  bodies  became 
de  facto  governments. 
They  organized  troops, 
raised  money,  and  as 
sumed  civil  powers  far 
enough  to  alleviate  the 

1  Action  of  this  kind  in  Mecklenburg  County,  North  Carolina,  on  May  30, 
1775,  through  distorted   recollections  and   inaccurate  statements,  gave  rise, 
years  later,  to  the  curious  but  groundless  legend  of  a  Mecklenburg  "  Declara 
tion  of  Independence." 

2  A  statue  by  Daniel  C.  French  at  Concord  Bridge.    The  stanza  on  the  base 
is  from  Emerson's  "  Concord  Hymn  " :  — 


THE  CONCORD  MINUTE  MAN.2 


§255] 


LEXINGTON  AND  CONCORD 


213 


existing  anarchy.     In   form,  their  acts   were   still  recommen 
dations;    but  the  local  committees  enforced   them  as  law. 

Of  course  the  "Tories "had  refused  to  pay  any  attention  to  the 
"illegal"  elections  of  such  provincial  conventions.  Indeed,  in  some 
cases,  they  were  even  excluded  from  voting  by  test  oaths.  In  this  way 
the  Radicals  came  to  control  the  only  governments  in  existence. 

255.    These  second  con-   , , 

ventions  in  most  of  the 
colonies  appointed  dele 
gates  to  the  Second  Con 
tinental  Congress.  Be 
tween  the  election  of  that 
body  and  its  meeting  (May 
10),  General  Gage,  com 
mander  of  the  British 
troops  in  Boston,  tried  to 
seize  Massachusetts  mili 
tary  stores  at  Concord, — 
and  so  called  from  "  em 
battled  farmers  "  "  the 
shot  heard  round  the 
world"  (April  19,  1775). 
Gage  had  sown  dragon's 
teeth.  From  New  Eng 
land's  soil  twenty  thou 
sand  volunteers  sprang  up 


to  besiege  him  in  Boston. 
War  had  come. 

In  consequence,   the  Second 
Continental  Congress  swiftly  be- 


THE  WASHINGTON  ELM  AT  CAMBRIDGE. 
From  a  photograph  taken  in  1895.  The 
inscription  runs :  — 

Under  this  tree 

Washington 
first  took  command 

of  the 

American  army 
July  3,  1775. 


***** 
Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 

Across  the  stream,  in  a  curve  of  the  stone  fence,  is  the  grave  of  two 
British  soldiers,  over  which  have  been  carved  the  lines  from  Lowell :  — 

They  came  three  thousand  miles  and  died, 
To  keep  the  Past  upon  its  throne. 


214        FROM  COLONIES  TO  COMMONWEALTHS     [§  256 

came  a  government,  to  manage  the  continental  revolution  ;  and,  during  the 
summer,  a  third  lot  of  provincial  conventions  openly  avowed  themselves 
governments  for  their  respective  colonies,  —  appointing  committees  of  safety 
(in  place  of  the  royal  governors,  who  had  been  set  aside  or  4nven  out), 
and  themselves  assuming  even  the  forms  of  legislative  bodies. 

256.  The  members  of  the  Second  Continental  Congress,  like  those  of 
the  First,  had  been  elected,  not  as  a  legislature,  but  to  formulate  opinion, 
and  to  report  their  recommendations  back  to  their  colonies  for  approval. 
The  war  changed  all  that.     A  central  government  was  imperative ;  and 
the  patriot  party  everywhere  recognized  the  Congress  as  the  only  agent 
to  fill  that  place. 

For  the  first  five  weeks,  that  body  continued  to  pass  recommendations 
only.  But  June  15  it  adopted  the  irregular  forces  about  Boston  as  a 
continental  army,  and  appointed  George  Washington  commander  in 
chief.  A  year  later  it  proclaimed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Between  these  two  events  it  created  a  navy,  opened  negotiations  with 
foreign  states,  issued  bills  of  credit  on  the  faith  of  the  colonies,  and  took 
over  (from  the  old  English  control)  the  management  of  Indian  affairs 
and  of  the  crude  post  office  system. 

257.  But  the  Revolution  in  governments  was  not  one  move 
ment.     It  was  a  whirl  of  thirteen  State  revolutions  within  this 
Continental  revolution.     The  development  of  the  State  govern 
ment  of  Virginia  is  fairly  typical. 

County  gatherings  in  December  and  January  (1774-1775) 
approved  the  Continental  Congress  and  set  up  the  Association, 
so  that  a  second  convention  was  not  necessary  until  it  came 
time  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  Second  Continental  Congress. 
Meantime,  many  counties,  on  their  own  initiative,  organized 
and  armed  a  revolutionary  militia  (Source  Book,  No.  132). 
The  First  Convention  (August,  1774)  had  authorized  its  chair 
man  to  call  a  second  when  desirable.  The  Second  Conven 
tion  met  March  20,  1775.  It  passed  only  "  recommenda 
tions  "  in  form ;  but  it  did  organize  the  revolutionary  militia 
into  a  state  system.  It  sat  only  eight  days ;  but  it  recom 
mended  the  counties  at  once  to  choose  delegates  to  a  Third 
Convention  to  represent  the  colony  for  one  year. 

Governor  Dunmore  forbade  the  elections  to  this  Third 
Convention  as  "  acts  of  sedition  " ;  but  they  passed  off  with 


§  258]  AS  IN  VIRGINIA  215 

regularity.  Meantime,  the  governor  called  an  Assembly,  to 
consider  a  proposal  from  Lord  North,  intended  to  draw  Virginia 
away  from  the  common  cause.  Instead  of  this,  the  Assembly 
gave  formal  sanction  to  all  the  acts  of  the  Continental  con 
gresses  and  of  the  Virginia  conventions.  In  the  squabbles 
that  followed,  Dunmore  took  refuge  on  board  a  British  man-of- 
war.  The  Assembly  strenuously  "  deplored "  that  their  gov 
ernor  should  so  "  desert "  the  "  loyal  and  suffering  colony," 
and  adjourned,  June  24.  This  ended  the  last  vestige  of  royal 
govei'nment  in  Virginia. 

Three  weeks  later,  the  Third  Convention  gathered  at  Rich 
mond  (out  of  range  of  guns  from  warships),  and  promptly 
assumed  all  powers  and  forms  of  government.  It  gave  all 
bills  three  readings,  and  enacted  them  as  ordinances;  and  it 
elected  an  executive  (a  "  committee  of  safety  "),  and  appointed 
a  colonial  Treasurer  and  other  needful  officials.  In  the  winter 
of  1776,  it  dissolved,  that  a  new  body,  fresher  from  the  people, 
might  act  on  the  pressing  questions  of  independence  and  of  a 
permanent  government  (§  261). 

258.  The  Loyalists  early  began  to  accuse  the  Patriots  of  aiming 
at  independence.  But,  until  some  months  after  Lexington,  the 
Patriots  vehemently  disavowed  such  "villainy,"  protesting  en 
thusiastic  loyalty  to  King  George.  They  were  ready  to  fight, 
—  but  only  as  Englishmen  had  often  fought,  to  compel  a 
change  in  "  ministerial  policy." 

Otis,  Dickinson,  Hamilton,  in  their  printed  pamphlets,  all 
denounced  any  thought  of  independence  as  a  crime.  Con 
tinental  congresses  and  provincial  conventions  solemnly  re 
peated  such  disclaimers.  In  March,  1775,  Franklin  declared 
that  he  had  never  heard  a  word  in  favor  of  independence 
"  from  any  person  drunk  or  sober."  Two  months  later  still, 
after  Lexington,  Washington  soothed  a  Loyalist  friend  with 
the  assurance  "  that  if  the  friend  ever  heard  of  his  [Washing 
ton's]  joining  in  any  such  measure,  he  had  leave  to  set  him 
down  for  everything  wicked " ;  and  June  26,  after  becoming 
commander  of  the  American  armies,  Washington  assured  the 


216 


INDEPENDENCE 


[§259 


New  Yorkers  that  he  would  exert  himself  to  establish  "  peace 
and  harmony  between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies." 
In  September,  1775,  Jefferson  was  still  "  looking  with  fondness 
towards  a  reconciliation,"  and  John  Jay  asserts  that  not  until 
after  that  month  did  he  ever  hear  a  desire  for  independence 
from  "an  American  of  any  description."  For  months  after 
Bunker  Hill,  American  chaplains,  in  public  services  before  the 
troops,  prayed  for  King  George ;  and,  for  long,  Washington 
continued  to  refer  to  the  British  army  merely  as  the  "  minis 
terial  troops."  Even  in  February,  1776,  when  Gadsden  in  the 

South  Carolina  convention 
expressed  himself  in  favor 
of  independence,  he  roused 
merely  a  storm  of  dismay, 
and  found  no  support. 
And  a  month  later  still, 
Maryland  instructed  her 
delegates  not  to  consent 
to  any  proposal  for  inde 
pendence  (Source  Book, 
No.  139). 

259.  All  this  was  hon 
estly  meant ;  but  the  years 
of  agitation  had  sapped  the 
ties  of  loyalty  more  than 
men  really  knew,  and  a 
few  months  of  war  broke 

them  wholly.  In  the  fall  of  1775,  the  King  refused  contemptu 
ously  even  to  receive  a  petition  for  reconciliation  from  Con 
gress ;  and  soon  afterward,  he  sent  to  America  an  army  of 
"  Hessians  "  hired  out,  for  slaughter,  by  petty  German  prince 
lings.  Moreover,  it  became  plain  that,  in  order  to  resist 
England,  the  colonies  must  have  foreign  aid ;  and  no  foreign 
power  could  be  expected  to  give  us  open  aid  while  we 
remained  English  colonies. 

Thus,  unconsciously,  American  Patriots  were  ready  to  change 


THE  CONCORD  FIGHT.  From  the  imagi 
native  painting  by  Simmons,  in  the 
State  House  at  Boston. 


§260]        THOMAS  PAINE'S   "COMMON  SENSE"          217 

front.  Then,  in.  January,  1776,  canie  Thomas  Paine's  daring 
and  trenchant  argument  for  independence  in  Common  Sense. 
This  fifty-page  publication,  in  clarion  tone,  spoke  out  what  the 
community  hailed  at  "once  as  its  own  unspoken  thought.  One 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  copies  sold  in  three  months,  — 
one  for  every  three  families  in  America. 

At  first  the  author's  name  was  not  given,  and  the  booklet 
was  commonly  attributed  to  one  of  the  Adamses  or  to  Franklin. 
Paine  was  a  poor  English  emigrant,  of  thirteen  months  before, 
whom  Franklin  had  befriended  for  the  "  genius  in  his  eyes." 
A  few  lines  may  represent  his  terse  style. 

"The  period  of  debate  is  closed.  Arms  .  .  .  must  decide.  ...  By 
referring  the  matter  from  argument  to  arms,  a  new  era  in  politics  is  struck. 
.  .  .  All  plans  .  .  .  prior  to  the  nineteenth  of  April  are  like  the  almanacs 
of  last  year.  .  .  . 

"  Where,  say  some,  is  the  king  of  America  ?  I'll  tell  you,  friend.  He 
reigns  above,  and  doth  not  make  havoc  of  mankind,  like  the  royal  brute 
of  Britain.  ...  A  government  of-  our  own  is  our  natural  right.  .  .  . 
Freedom  has  been  hunted  round  the  globe.  Asia  and  Africa  have  long 
expelled  her.  Europe  regards  her  like  a  stranger;  and  England  has 
given  her  warning  to  depart.  O,  receive  the  fugitive  and  prepare  in  time 
an  asylum  for  mankind." 

260.  Meantime,  the  growth  of  independent  State  governments 
was  going  on.  Several  colonies  had  applied  to  Congress  for 
counsel,  in  the  disorders  of  the  fall  of  1775.  In  reply,  Congress 
"  recommended  "  the  provincial  convention  of  New  Hampshire 

"  to  call  a  full  and  free  representation  of  the  people  .  .  .  [to]  establish 
such  a  form  of  government  as  in  their  judgment  will  best  produce  the 
happiness  of  the  people  and  most  effectually  secure  peace  and  good  order 
in  that  province,  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  dispute  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  colonies." 

Under  such  advice,  early  in  1776,  New  Hampshire  and  South 
Carolina  set  up  provisional  constitutions.  These  documents, 
however,  did  not  imply  independence.  They  declared  them 
selves  temporary,  and  referred  always  to  the  commonwealths 
not  as  States,  but  as  "  colonies." 


218  INDEPENDENCE  [§  261 

But  May  15,  1776,  Congress  took  more  advanced  action.  It 
recommended  the  "  assemblies  and  conventions  "  of  all  colonies, 

"where  no  government  sufficient  to  the  exigencies  of  their  affairs  hath 
been  hitherto  established,  to  adopt  such  a  government  as  shall,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  best  conduce  to  the  happiness 
and  safety  of  their  constituents  in  particular,  and  of  America  in  general." 

Two  days  later,  in  a  letter  to  his  wife,  John  Adams  hailed  this 
action  (for  which  he  had  been  the  foremost  champion)  as  "  a 
total,  absolute  independence  .  .  .  for  such  is  the  amount  of  the 
resolve  of  the  15th." 

261.  One  colony,  however,  had  not  waited  for  this  counsel. 
The  Fourth  Virginia  Convention  met  May  6,  1776,  and  turned  at 
once  to  the  questions  of  independence  and  of  a  constitution.1  The 
only  difference  of  opinion  was2:  —  Should  Virginia,  standing 
alone,  declare  herself  an  independent  State  and  frame  a  con 
stitution  for  herself?  Or  should  she  try  to  get  the  Conti 
nental  Congress  to  make  a  declaration  and  to  suggest  a  general 
model  of  government  for  all  the  new  States  ?  Plans  were 
presented,  representing  each  of  these  views.  On  Ma}^  15,  after 
much  debate,  the  convention  determined  upon  a  middle  plan. 
Unanimously  it  instructed  its  representatives  in  Congress  to  move 
immediately  for  a  general  Declaration  of  Independence  there  ; 
and  it  appointed  committees  at  once  to  draw  up  a  constitution  for 
Virginia  herself  as  an  independent  State.  This  was  done  some 
days  before  the  recommendation  of  Congress  for  State  consti 
tutions  was  known  in  Virginia. 

The  bill  of  rights  (the  first  part  of  the  constitution)  was 
reported  by  the  committee  May  27,  and  adopted  by  the  con 
vention  June  12.  The  "frame  of  government"  was  adopted 
June  29.  To  it  at  the  last  moment  was  prefixed  a  third  part 
of  the  constitution,  a  declaration  of  independence  for  Virginia, 
earlier  than  the  Continental  Declaration  (Source  Book) . 

1  The  student  must  get  the  connection  with  the  story  in  §  257. 

2  On  May  10,  Charles  Lee  wrote  to  Washington,  "  A  noble  spirit  possesses 
the  Convention.    They  are  almost  unanimous  for  independence,  but  differ  as 
to  the  mode.    Two  days  will  decide." 


§  262]  VIRGINIA'S  BILL   OF  RIGHTS  219 

262.  The  Virginia  Bill  of  Rights l  was  the  first  document  of 
the  kind  in  our  history,  and  it  remains  one  of  our  greatest 
state  papers.  Three  or  four  States  at  once  copied  it,  and  all 
the  bills  of  rights  during  the  Revolutionary  period  show  its 
influence.  Some  provisions,  such  as  those  against  excessive 
bail,  cruel  or  unusual  punishments,  arbitrary  imprisonment, 
and  the  like,  go  back  to  ancient  English  charters,  even  for  their 
wording.  Recent  grievances  suggested  certain  other  clauses,  — 
the  prohibition  of  "general  warrants,"  the  insistence  upon 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  emphasis  upon  the  idea  that  a 
jury  must  be  "  of  the  vicinage  "  (neighborhood). 

More  significant  still,  this  immortal  document  opens  with  a 
splendid  assertion  of  human  rights.  English  bills  of  rights  had 
insisted  upon  the  historic  rights  of  Englishmen,  but  had  said 
nothing  of  any  rights  of  man:  they  had  protested  against 
specific  grievances,  but  had  asserted  no  general  principles.  Such 
principles,  however,  had  found  frequent  expression  in  English 
literature,  and  thence  had  become  household  phrases  with 
American  political  thinkers.2  Now,  these  fundamental  prin 
ciples,  upon  which  American  government  rests,  were  incor 
porated  by  George  Mason  in  this  Virginia  bill  of  rights,  —  a 
fact  which  distinguishes  that  document  from  any  previous 
governmental  document  in  the  world.  Two  or  three  weeks 
later,  Jefferson  incorporated  similar  principles,  clothed  in 
phrase  both  more  eloquent  and  more  judicious,  in  the  opening 
paragraphs  of  the  Continental  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Among  the  principles  of  the  Virginia  document  are  the 
statements :  — 


1  Source  Book,  No.  136.    The  class  should  study  it  (and  the  comment  upon 
it  there) ,  and  compare  the  opening  passages  with  corresponding  parts  of  Jef 
ferson's  Declaration  of  Independence. 

2  Cf .  Otis'  words,  close  of  §  217.     About  1760,  this  same  democratic  Eng 
lish  literature  began  deeply  to  affect  a  few  French  thinkers,  like  Rousseau, 
the  prophet  of  the  later  French  Revolution.    These  men  stated  the  old  English 
truths  with   a   new   French  brilliancy  ;    and   it  is  sometimes  hard  to  say 
whether  the  American  leaders  drew  their  doctrines  from  the  French  or  the 
older  English  sources. 


220  INDEPENDENCE  [§  263 

"That  all  men  are  by  nature  equally  free1  and  independent,  and  have 
certain  inherent  rights.  .  .  . 

"That  all  power  is  ...  derived  from  the  people. 

"That  government  is,  or  ought  to  be,  instituted  for  the  common 
benefit  of  the  people  .  .  .  and  that  when  any  government  shall  be  found 
inadequate  ...  a  majority  of  the  community  hath  an  indubitable, 
inalienable,  and  indefeasible  right  to  reform,  alter,  or  abolish  it.  ... 

"That  no  free  government,  or  the  blessings  of  liberty,  can  be  pre 
served  .  .  .  but  ...  by  frequent  recurrence  to  fundamental  principles. 

"That  ...  all  men  are  equally  entitled  to  the  free  exercise  of  reli 
gion,  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience."  2 


S 


ORIGINAL  DRAFT  OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE,  in  the  hand 
writing  of  Jefferson,  —  "  written  without  reference  to  book  or  pamphlet." 
A  photograph  (reduced)  from  a  facsimile  in  the  Boston  Public  Library. 

263.  June  7,  soon  after  the  Virginia  instructions  of  May  15 
reached  Philadelphia,  the  Virginia  delegation  in  the  Continental 
Congress  moved  that  the  united  colonies  be  declared  "  free  and  in- 

1  According  to  Edmund  Randolph,  the  phrase  equally  free  was  objected  to 
as  inconsistent  with  slavery.    Such  objectors  were  quieted  with  the  amazing 
assurance  that  "slaves,  not  being  constituent  members  of  our  society,  could 
never  pretend  to  any  benefit  from  such  a  maxim."    In  Massachusetts,  similar 
words  in  her  bill  of  rights  of  1780  were  held  by  her  courts  to  have  abolished 
slavery  within  her  limits,  though  that  result  was  not  thought  of  when  the 
clause  was  adopted. 

2  This  last  clause  was  moved  by  Patrick  Henry. 


§  264]  THE   DECLARATION,   JULY  4,  1776  221 

dependent  States."  Brief  debate  followed ;  but  action  was 
postponed,  to  permit  uninstructed  delegates  to  consult  their 
Assemblies.  Meantime,  Congress  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  a  fitting  "  Declaration  "  for  use  if  the  motion  should 
prevail.  Happily  it  fell  to  Thomas  Jefferson  to  pen  the  docu 
ment  ;  and  his  splendid  faith  in  democracy  gave  it  a  convinc 
ing  eloquence  which  has  made  it  ever  since  a  mighty  power  in 
directing  the  destiny  of  the  world. 

By  July  1,  all  delegations  except  New  York's  had  either 
received  positive  instructions  to  vote  for  independence  or  had 
at  least  been  released  from  former  restrictions  against  doing 
so ;  and  the  matter  was  again  taken  up.  The  first  vote  was 
divided  ;  but  on  the  next  day  (July  2)  the  motion  for  inde 
pendence  was  carried  by  the  vote  of  twelve  States.  The  formal 
Declaration,  reported  by  the  committee,  was  then  considered 
in  detail,  and  adopted  on  July  4.  On  the  9th,  a  new  (Fourth) 
Provincial  Congress  for  New  York  gave  the  assent  of  that 
State. 

Details  for  each  State  are  given  in  West's  American  History  and  Gov 
ernment,  §  150.  The  delegates  from  New  York  wrote  home  for  instruc 
tions  (June  10),  but  the  Third  New  York  Convention  replied  that  it  could 
not  presume  to  give  authority.  A  "Fourth  Convention"  was  called  at 
once,  to  act  upon  the  matter.  This  was  virtually  a  referendum.  The 
new  convention  did  not  meet  until  July  9,  and  so  the  delegates  from  New 
York  at  Philadelphia  took  no  part  in  the  votes. 

John  Adams  regarded  the  vote  of  July  2  as  the  decisive  step.  On  the 
3d  of  July  he  wrote  to  his  wife  :  "  The  second  day  of  July,  1776,  will  be 
the  most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history  of  America.  I  am  apt  to  be 
lieve  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeeding  generations  as  the  great 
anniversary  festival.  It  ought  to  be  commemorated  as  the  day  of  deliver 
ance,  by  solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  God  Almighty.  It  ought  to  be  solem 
nized  with  pomp  and  parade,  with  shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells, 
bonfires,  and  illuminations,  from  one  end  of  this  continent  to  the  other, 
from  this  time  foreward  forever  more." 

264.  Military  events  in  '76  were  indecisive.  In  the  spring, 
after  nearly  a  year's  siege,  Washington  forced  the  English  out 
of  Boston ;  but  he  was  unable  to  prevent  their  occupying  New 


222  INDEPENDENCE  [§  264 

York.  Defeated  badly  at  Long  Island  and  White  Plains, 
Ms  sadly  lessened  troops  fled  through  New  Jersey  into  Penn 
sylvania  ;  but  a  few  weeks  later  he  cheered  the  Patriots  by  the 
dashing  winter  victories  of  Trenton  and  Princeton.  In  the 
darkest  of  the  dark  days  before  those  victories,  Thomas  Paine 
thrilled  America  with  The  Crisis.  This  pamphlet  was  a  mighty 
factor  in  filling  the  levies  and  dispelling  despondency.  Pages 
of  it  were  on  men's  tongues,  and  the  opening  sentence  has 
passed  into  a  byword,  —  "  These  are  the  times  that  try  men's 
souls." 

Meantime  the  revolution  in  governments  went  on.  Said  John 
Adams  toward  the  close  of  '76,  — "  The  manufacture  of  gov 
ernments  is  as  much  talked  of  as  was  the  manufacture  of  salt 
peter  before."  In  the  six  months  between  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  Battle  of  Trenton,  seven  States  followed 
Virginia  in  adopting  written  constitutions.  Georgia  was  hin 
dered  for  a  time  by  the  predominance  of  her  Tories  ;  and  New 
York,  because  she  was  held  by  the  enemy.  These  States  fol 
lowed  in  '77.  The  remaining  three  States  had  already  set  up 
provisional  governments.  In  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp 
shire,  these  remained  in  force  for  some  years.  South  Carolina 
adopted  a  regular  constitution  in  '78. 

Thanks  to  the  political  instinct  of  the  people,  the  institution 
of  these  new  governments,  even  in  the  midst  of  war'  and  inva 
sion,  was  accomplished  quietly.  As  to  Virginia,  Jefferson 
wrote  (August  13,  '77),  —  "  The  people  seem  to  have  laid  aside 
the  monarchic,  and  taken  up  republican  government,  with  as 
much  ease  as  would  have  attended  the  throwing  off  an  old  and 
putting  on  a  new  suit  of  clothes." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  NEW  STATE  CONSTITUTIONS 

I  This  Chapter  may  well  be  discussed  in  class,  with  books  open.  It 
is  enough  if  the  student,  carries  away  general  impressions.] 

265.  No  one  of  the  first  eleven  constitutions  was  voted  on  by  the 
people.  In  most  cases  the  "  conventions "  that  adopted  them 
had  no  express  authority  to  do  so ;  and  some  of  those  conven 
tions  had  been  elected  months  before  there  was  any  talk  of 
independence.  For  the  most  part,  the  constitutions  were  enacted 
precisely  as  ordinary  laws  were. 

In  Virginia,  Jefferson  urged  a  referendum  on  the  constitu 
tion,  arguing  that  otherwise  the  constitution  could  be  repealed 
by  any  legislature,  like  any  other  statute.  But  this  doctrine 
was  too  advanced  for  his  State.  A  "  union  of  mechanics  "  in 
New  York,  too,  protested  vigorously  but  vainly  against  the 
adoption  of  a  constitution  by  a  provincial  convention  without 
"  the  inhabitants  at  large  "  being  permitted  to  "  exercise  the 
right  God  has  given  them  ...  to  approve  or  reject"  it. 
In  New  England,1  on  the  other  hand,  thanks  to  the  training 
of  the  town  meeting,  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  was  under 
stood  by  every  artisan  and  farmer,  as  elsewhere  only  by  lonely 
thinkers. 

The  legislatures  of  Ehode  Island  and  Connecticut  did  adopt 
the  old  charters  as  constitutions  (without  change),  without  ref 
erence  to  the  people,  because  it  was  held  that  the  people  had 
already  sanctioned  them  by  long  acquiescence.  But  in  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  where  new  constitutions  were 

1  The  New  York  "  mechanics,"  just  quoted,  were  mainly  of  New  England 
birth  or  descent.  Cf .  §  170. 

223 


224  STATE   CONSTITUTIONS,    1776-1784  [§  265 

to  be  adopted,  there  was  no  serious  thought  of  acting  without  a 
popular  referendum.  Indeed,  that  was  not  enough.  The  people 
of  these  States  demanded  also  a  popular  initiative  in  the 
matter. 

Throughout  the  summer  of  '76,  Massachusetts  papers  and  pamphlets 
teemed  with  projects  for  a  new  government.1  September  17  the  Assembly 
asked  the  towns  to  authorize  it  to  prepare  a  constitution,  "to  be  made 
public  for  the  inspection  and  perusal  of  the  inhabitants,  before  the  ratifi 
cation  thereof  by  the  Assembly."  This  would  have  let  the  people  only 
make  suggestions.  Massachusetts  would  not  tolerate  such  a  plan,  and  a 
general  opposition  appeared  to  any  action  whatever  by  the  ordinary  legis 
lature.  Various  towns  voted  to  resist  the  movement  until  —  in  the  words 
of  a  Boston  resolution  —  the  people  should  elect  "  a  convention  for  this 
purpose  and  this  alone."  Still  the  next  year  (May  5,  1777)  the  expiring 
Assembly  recommended  that  its  successor  should  be  empowered,  at  the 
elections,  to  make  a  constitution.  Many  towns  again  refused  assent. 
None  the  less,  the  new  Assembly  did  venture  to  submit  a  constitution  to 
the  vote  of  the  towns  (February,  1778).  But  less  than  a  tenth  of  the 
towns  approved  the  document ! 

At  last  the  Assembly  was  converted.  It  now  asked  the  towns  to  vote 
at  the  next  election  whether  they  would  empower  their  delegates  in  the 
coming  Assembly  to  call  a  Convention  for  the  sole  purpose  of  forming 
a  constitution.  The  responses  were  favorable,  and  a  Convention  was 
called  for  September  1,  to  be  chosen  as  regular  Assemblies  were.  That 
body  drew  up  a  constitution  which  (March  2)  was  submitted  to  the 
towns.  More  than  two  thirds  the  towns  voted  to  ratify;  and  in  June, 
1780,  the  constitution  went  into  effect. 

In  New  Hampshire  a  like  method  was  followed  ;  and,  after  three 
plans  had  been  rejected,  a  constitution  was  ratified  in  1783.  It  was 
many  years  before  this  method  became  general  outside  New  England. 
No  more  democratic  way  has  yet  been  discovered  than  the  Massachusetts 
plan:  (1)  popular  initiative;  (2)  a  true  "constitutional  convention"; 
(3)  a  referendum  on  the  result. 

1  Some  of  these  were  fantastic.  Democracy,  of  course,  will  show  its  weak 
points.  One  "farmer"  published  a  constitution  of  sixty  articles,1  which,  he 
boasted  modestly,  he  had  prepared  for  the  commonwealth  "  between  the  hours 
of  10  A.M.  and  2  P.M."  Opposition  to  any  executive  was  common.  At  a 
slightly  later  date,  one  town  voted  •"  that  it  is  Our  Opitmiun  that  we  do  not 
want  any  Goviner  but  the  Guviner  of  the  univarse  and  under  him  a  States 
Gineral  to  Consult  with  the  wrest  of  the  united  stats  for  the  good  of  the 
whole." 


267] 


GENERAL  LIKENESSES 


225 


266.  The  thirteen  constitutions  were  strikingly  alike.1  All 
were  "republican"  without  a  trace  of  hereditary  privilege. 
Nearly  all  safeguarded  the  rights  of  the  individual  by  a  dis 
tinct  bill  of  rights.  Most  of  them  formally  adopted  the  English 
Common  Law  as  part  of  the  law  of  the  land.  Except  in  Penn 
sylvania  and  Georgia  (the  two  youngest  States)  the  legisla 
ture  had  two  Houses.  Pennsylvania  kept  a  plural  executive, 
—  a  council  with  one  member  designated  as  "  president " ; 
but  elsewhere  the  revolution 
ary  committees  of  safety  gave 


governor 


way   to   a   single 
or  "president." 

267.  The  governors  had  less 
power  than  the  old  colonial 
governors.  The  people  did  not 
yet  clearly  see  the  difference 
between  trusting  an  officer 
chosen  by  themselves  and  one 
appointed  by  a  distant  king. 
New  York  and  Massachusetts, 
however  (the  eleventh  arid 
twelfth  States  to  adopt  con 
stitutions),  had  had  time  to 
learn  the  need  of  a  firm  execu 
tive,  and  strengthened  that 
branch  of  government  some 
what,  though  they  left  it  weaker  than  is  customary  to-day. 
These  two  States  also  placed  the  election  of  the  governor  in  the 
hands  of  the  people  directly.  That  was  already  the  case  in 

1  This  was  due  mainly  to  the  similarity  between  the  preceding  colonial 
governments,  but  in  part  to  a  remarkably  active  interchange  of  ideas 
among  the  leaders  during  the  spring  and  summer  of  '76.  Before  the  Fourth 
Virginia  Convention  (§  261)  Patrick  Henry  corresponded  freely  with  the 
two  Adamses.  Members  of  Congress  at  Philadelphia  constantly  discussed 
forms  of  government  at  informal  gatherings;  and,  on  several  occasions, 
delegates  from  distant  colonies  returned  home  to  take  part  in  constitution' 
making. 


THE  "  BUNKER  HILL,  "  FLAG,  used  by 
the  Massachusetts  Colonials.  The 
ground  is  blue.  One  corner  is 
quartered  by  the  red  Cross  of  St. 
George  (the  English  emblem)  with 
the  Massachusetts  "Pine."  Now 
in  the  State  House  at  Boston. 


226 


STATE   CONSTITUTIONS,    1776-1784 


[§  268 


Connecticut   and  Rhode   Island   under  the  colonial   charters. 

Everywhere  else  the  executive  was  appointed  by  the  legislature. 
268.   Everywhere  the  legislature  overshadowed  the  two  other 

branches  of  government.     TJie  judiciary,  like  the  executive,  was 

usually  chosen  by  the  legislature,  and  in  many  cases  was  remov 
able  by  executive  and  legis 
lature  without  formal  trial. 
No  one  yet  foresaw,  in  any 
thing  like  its  modern  extent, 
the  later  power  of  the  judici 
ary  to  declare  legislative  acts 
void. 

The  old  executive  check  upon 
the  legislature,  the  absolute 
veto,  nowhere  appeared.  Only 
two  States  devised  the  new 
qualified  veto,  to  be  overridden 
by  two  thirds  of  each  House, 
which  has  since  become  so 
common.  New  York  gave 
this  veto  to  governor  and 


The  first  "  Flag  of  the  United  Colo 
nies,"  hoisted  by  General  Putnam 
on  Prospect  Hill,  January  1,  1776, 
and  adopted  by  Washington  when 
he  took  command  of  the  Conti 
nental  troops  besieging  Boston ; 


now  in  the  State  House  at  Boston,  judiciary    acting  together,    in 

This  was  the  first  flag  to  substi-  a      "  revisionary      council "  ; 

tute  red  stripes  on  a  white  ground,  Massachusetts  gave  it  to  the 
one  stripe  for  each  of  the  thirteen  , 

colonies,  for  the  solid  red  field  of  governor  alone. 


the  English  flag.  In  the  corner  it 
retains  the  British  "Union"  of 
the  crosses  of  St.  George  and  St. 
Andrew  (England  and  Scotland)  on 
a  blue  field. 


269.  Religious  discrimina 
tion  was  common.  "  Freedom 
of  ivorship"  was  generally 
asserted  in  the  bills  of  rights ; 
but  this  did  not  imply  our 

modern  separation  of  church  and  state.  Office-holding  in  several 
States  was  restricted  to  Protestant  Christians,  and  some  States 
kept  a  specially  favored  ("  established  ")  church.  The  Massa 
chusetts  bill  of  rights  provided  that  all  citizens  should  be 
taxed  for  church  support,  but  that  each  man  should  have  the 
right  to  say  to  which  church  in  his  town  or  village  his  pay- 


270] 


CHECKS  ON  DEMOCRACY 


227 


merit   should   go.      Most  places   in  Massachusetts,   however, 
had  only  a  Congregational  church,  which,  therefore,  was  main 
tained  at  public  expense. 
Connecticut  had  a  similar 
plan. 

270.  Each  of  the  thirteen 
States  excluded  a  large  part 
of  even  the  free  White 
males  from  voting.  Some 
gave  the  franchise  only 
to  those  who  held  land, 
and  most  of  the  others 
demanded  the  ownership 
of  considerable  taxable 
property  of  some  kind  as 
a  qualification.  Even  the 
four  most  democratic 
States  —  Pennsylvania, 
New  Hampshire,  Georgia, 
North  Carolina  -  -  per 
mitted  only  taxpayers  to 
vote.1  The  country  over, 
probably  not  one  White 
man  in  five  held  even  the 
lowest  degree  of  the  suf 
frage.  Democracy  -was 
more  praised  than  prac 
ticed. 


THE  "  OLD  NORTH  "  CHURCH  IN  BOSTON. 
From  a  recent  photograph.  The  tablet 
above  the  entrance  reads:  —  "The  sig 
nal  lanterns  of  Paul  Revere  displayed 
in  the  steeple  of  this  church,  April  18, 
1775,  warned  the  country  of  the  march 
of  the  British  troops  to  Lexington  and 
Concord." 


1  These  four  States  recog 
nized  clearly  that  democracy 
demands  education.  They  all 
put  into  their  constitutions  a 
provision  for  encouraging  public 
education.  It  should  be  added 
that  Pennsylvania  and  Georgia  were  a  trifle  more  liberal  with  the  franchise 
than  the  compact  statement  in  the  text  would  indicate.  The  first  gave  the 
suffrage  to  the  grown-up  sons  of  freeholders,  and  the  second  to  certain  classes 
of  skilled  artisans,  whether  taxpayers  or  not. 


228  STATE   CONSTITUTIONS,    1776-1784  [§  271 

271.  Qualifications  were  often  graded.     Commonly,  a  man  had 
to  have  more  property  to  vote  for  the  upper  than  for  the  lower 
House  of  the  legislature.     This  was  one  device  to  make  the  sen 
ates  special  protectors  of  property  interests.     Commonly,  too, 
there  was  a  still  higher  qualification  for  sitting  in  the  legisla 
ture,  —  often  more  for  the  upper  House  than  for  the  lower,  — 
and  yet  more  for  a  governor.     In  several  States,  the  upper 
House  was  chosen  by  the  lower.     In  Massachusetts,  all  men 
who  could  vote  for  one  House  could  vote  for  the  other  also, 
but  in  choosing  the  senate,  the  votes  were  so  apportioned  that 
a  rich  man  counted  for  several  poor  men :   the  richer  any  part 
of  the  State,  the  more  senatorial  districts  it  had.     North  Caro 
lina  pretty  well  lost  her  democracy  in  these  gradations.     To 
vote  for  a  representative,  a  man  had  only  to  be  a  taxpayer ;  but 
to  vote  for  senator,  he  must  own  50  acres  of  land ;  to  sit  as 
representative,  he  must  have  100  acres  ;  as  senator,  300  acres  ; 
and  as  governor,  £1000  of  real  estate. 

272.  Here  were  four  ingenious  checks  upon  a  dangerously  encroach 
ing  democracy:  (i)  an  upper  House  so  chosen  as  to  be  a  stronghold  for 
the  aristocracy1;    (2)  indirect  election  of  the  executive  and  judiciary; 
(3)  property   qualifications,    sometimes    graded,   for  voting ;    and   (4) 
higher  qualifications  for  holding  office.    All  these  had  been  developed  in 
the  colonial  period.     On  the  whole  the  new  States  weakened  the  checks  (and 
no  State  increased  them) ;  but  every  State  retained  some  of  them. 

273.  Vermont,  it  is  true,  was  a  real  democracy  ;  but  she  was  not  one 
of  the  thirteen  colonies,  nor  did  she  become  a  State  of  the  Union  until 
1791.     Her  territory  had  belonged  to  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  ; 
but  neither  government  was  satisfactory  to  the  inhabitants,  and,  during 
the  early  Revolutionary  disorders,  the  Green  Mountain  districts  set  up  a 
government  of  their  own  (adopting,  as  their  hasty  statement  put  it,  "the 
laws  of  God  and  Connecticut,  until  we  have  time  to  frame  better  ").    This 
"  Vermont"  was  not  "recognized  "  by  Congress  or  by  any  State  govern- 

1  In  the  seventeenth  century,  aristocracy  was  so  strong  that  the  aristocratic 
"  Council "  (whether  elected  as  in  Massachusetts,  or  appointed  as  in  Virginia) 
dominated  a  one-House  Assembly.  The  change  to  two  Houses  was  set  in  mo 
tion  everywhere  by  the  democratic  element,  as  a  step  toward  greater  freedom 
of  action  (§§  54,  102) .  When  we  reach  the  Kevolution,  democracy  has  gained 
in  power ;  and  it  was  the  aristocracy  which  preserved  the  two-House  system, 
in  order  that  property  and  station  might  intrench  themselves  safely  in  it. 


§  274]  CHECKS   ON  DEMOCRACY  229 

ment ;  but,  in  1777,  it  adopted  a  constitution  with  manhood  suffrage.  This 
democracy  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Vermont,  as  a  whole,  was  a  frontier 
community,  —  "  back  counties  "  of  New  Hampshire  and  Connecticut. 

274.  Half  these  first  constitutions  had  no  provision  for  amend 
ment.  In  South  Carolina  the  legislature  gave  ninety  days' 
notice  of  a  proposed  change  in  the  constitution  (that  public 
opinion  might  be  known),  and  then  acted  as  in  passing  any  law. 
In  Maryland,  an  amendment  became  part  of  the  constitution 
if  passed  by  two  successive  legislatures.  In  Delaware  five 
sevenths  of  one  house  and  seven  ninths  of  the  other  were  re 
quired  to  carry  an  amendment.  In  Pennsylvania,  amendments 
could  be  proposed  only  at  intervals  of  seven  years,  and  only  in 
a  peculiar  fashion.  (As  a  result,  in  these'  last  two  States, 
amendment  was  finally  accomplished  by  new  conventions,  with 
disregard  of  the  constitutional  provisions.)  Georgia  and  Massa 
chusetts  provided  for  the  calling  of  constitutional  conventions 
in  a  modern  fashion. 

EXERCISE.  —  Compare  the  Bill  of  Rights  in  your  State  with  the  original 
Virginia  Bill  of  Rights. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

CONGRESS  AND  THE  WAR 

275.  England's  task  was  a  difficult  one,  even  if  she  had  had 
only  America  to  deal  with.    'Great  Britain  had  then  eight  mil 
lion  people,  —  or  about  three  times  as  many  as  the  colonies 
had.     But  she  had  to  wage  war  across  three  thousand  miles  of 
ocean  in  an  age  when  it  took  eight  or  ten  weeks  to  cross  and 
when  no  ship  carried  more  than  four  or  five  hundred  people. 
The  Americans,  too,  inhabited  a  large  and  scattered  territory, 
with  no  vital  centers.     To  conquer  it,  an  invading  army  must 
hold  much  of  it  at  one  time.     At  one  time  or  another,  English 
troops  held  Boston,  New  York,  Newport,  Philadelphia,  Savan 
nah  —  but  never  more  than  one  or  two  at  once. 

276.  The  first  great  danger  to  the  colonies  lay,  not  in  England's 
strength,  but  in  American  disunion.     The  Revolution  was  more 
of  a  civil  war  than  was  even  the  great  "  Civil  War  "  of  1861. 
In  1776  every  community  was  divided,  and  neighbor  warred 
on  neighbor.     In  New    York,   Pennsylvania,  and  Georgia  the 
Loyalists  were  a  majority,  and  in  the  colonies  as  a  whole  they  made 
at  least  every  third  man. 

277.  The  Tories  came  mainly  (1)  from  the  commercial,  capitalistic, 
and  professional  classes,  always  timid  regarding  change,  and  (2)  from  the 
easy-going,  well-contented  part  of  society.    On  the  whole,  they  represented 
respectability  and  refinement.    Society  was  moving  rapidly  :  not  all  could 
keep  the  same  pace.    In  July,  1776,  the  line  was  drawn.     Men  who  that 
month  stood  where  Washington  or  Jefferson  had  stood  seven  or  eight 
months  before  (§  258)  were  Tories. 

278.  The  other  great  danger  to  America  was  the  inefficiency  of 
Congress.     Even  with  every  third  man  siding  with  England,  if 
we  had  had  a  central  government  able  to  gather  and  wield  our 

230 


§  279]  DISUNION  AND  INEFFICIENCY  231 

resources,  the  British  armies  could  have  been  driven  into  the 
sea  in  six  months. 

From  their  500,000  able-bodied  White  males,  the  Americans 
should  have  put  in  the  field  an  army  of  100,000  men.  But,  if 
we  leave  out  the  militia,  which  now  and  again  swarmed  out 
for  a  few  days  to  repel  a  local  raid,  the  continental  forces 
hardly  reached  a  third  that  number  at  any  time.  For  the 
greater  part  of  the  war,  indeed,  the  American  armies  numbered 
only  about  10,000  men,  and  at  times  they  sank  to  5000. 

Even  these  few  were  ill-paid,  ill-fed,  and  worse  clothed. 
And  this,  not  so  much  from  the  poverty  of  the  country,  as  from 
lack  of  organization. 

As  John  Fiske  well  says,  in  referring  to  the  dreadful  sufferings  of 
Washington's  army  at  Valley  Forge,  which  "have  called  forth  the  pity 
and  admiration  of  historians  "  :  "  The  point  of  the  story  is  lost  unless  we 
realize  that  this  misery  resulted  from  gross  mismanagement  rather  than 
from  the  poverty  of  the  country.  As  the  soldiers  marched  on  the  seven 
teenth  of  December  to  their  winter  quarters,  their  route  could  be  traced 
on  the  snow  by  the  blood  that  oozed  from  bare,  frost-bitten  feet.  Yet, 
at  the  same  moment,  .  .  .  hogsheads  of  shoes,  stockings,  and  clothing 
were  lying  at  different  places  on  the  route  and  in  the  woods,  perishing 
for  want  of  teams." 

279.  Fortunately  the  English  commanders  were  of  second  or 
third  rate  ability.1  Among  the  Americans,  the  war  developed 
some  excellent  generals  of  the  second  rank,  —  Greene,  Arnold, 
Marion,  —  but  many  officers  were  incompetent  or  self-seeking 
or  treacherous.  After  the  first  months,  the  faithful  endurance 
of  the  common  soldier  was  splendid.  Said  one  observer,  «'  Bare 
foot,  he  labors  through  Mud  and  Cold  with  a  Song  in  his 
Mouth,  extolling  War  and  Washington."  Yet  at  times  even 
this  soldiery  was  driven  to  conspiracy  or  open  mutiny  by  the 
jealous  unwillingness  of  Congress  to  make  provision  for  their 
needs  in  the  field  or  for  their  families  at  home.2 

1  Lord  North  is  reported  to  have  said  of  the  British  generals, — "I  don't 
know  whether  they  frighten  the  enemy,  but  I  am  sure  they  frighten  me." 

2  Said  Washington :    "  In  other  countries,  the  prejudice  against  standing 
armies  exists  only  in  time  of  peace,  and  this  because  the  troops  are  a  distinct 


232  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR  [§  280 

280.  Out  of  all  this  murkiness  towers  one  bright  and  glorious 
figure.     Pleading  with  Congress   for  justice   to   his    soldiers, 
shaming  or  sternly  compelling  those  justly  dissatisfied  soldiers 
to  their  duty,  quietly  ignoring  repeated  slights  of  Congress  to 
himself,   facing   outnumbering   forces   of   perfectly   equipped 
veterans  when  his  own  army  was  a  mere  shell,   Washington, 
holding  well  in  hand  that  fiery  temper  which  still,  on  occasion, 
could  make  him  swear  "like  an  angel  from  heaven,"  was  al 
ways  great-minded,  dignified,  indefatigable,  steadfastly  indom 
itable  ;  a  devoted  patriot ;  a  sagacious  statesman ;  a  consummate 
soldier,  patient  to  wait  his  chance  and  daring  to  seize  it :  the 
one  indispensable  man  of  the  Revolution. 

281.  The  best  excuse  for  the  misrule  of  Congress  was  its  real 
weakness  and  its  consequent  feeling  of  irresponsibility.     In  all  in 
ternal  matters,  it  was  limited  to  recommendations ;  and  the 
States  grew  to  regard  its  requests  more  and  more  lightly.     It 
asked  men  to  enlist,  offering  bounties  to  those  who  did  so ;  but 
often  it  found  its  offers  outbid  by  the  State  governments  to  in 
crease  their  own  troops.     It  had  no  power  to  draft  men  into 
the  ranks  :  only  the  State  governments  could  do  that.    So,  too,  in 
the  matter  of  finances.     Congress  could  not  tax :  it  only  called  on 
the  States  for  contributions,  in  a  ratio  agreed  upon.     Such  con 
tributions,  even  when  reinforced  by  the  loans  from  France,  were 
not  more  than  half  of  the  amount  necessary  to  carry  on  the  war. 

282.  At  the  very  beginning,  Congress  was  forced  to  issue  paper 
money.     Each  scrap  of  such  money  was  merely  an  indefinite 
promissory  note  from   Congress  to  "bearer."     In  five  years, 
printing  presses  supplied  Congress  with  $  241,000,000  of  such 
"continental  currency"1;  and,  with  this,  perhaps  $50,000,000 
worth  of  services  and  supplies  were  bought.2     Congress  itself 

body  from  the  citizens  ...  It  is  our 'policy  to  be  prejudiced  against  them  in 
time  of  war,  though  they  are  citizens." 

!So  called  to  distinguish  this  currency  put  forth  by  the  central  government 
from  similar  issues  by  the  States.  The  State  currency  amounted  to 
$  200,000,000  more ;  but  most  of  it  had  more  value  than  the  continental  paper. 

2  After  depreciation  began,  even  with  a  new  issue  Congress  could  not  get 
nearly  a  dollar's  worth  of  supplies  for  a  paper  dollar, 


282] 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


233 


had  no  power  to  compel  people  to  take  this  currency;  but,  at  the 
request  of  Congress,  the  States  made  it  "  legal  tender."  The 
people,  however,  had  little  confidence  in  the  promise  to  repay. 
In  1776  (when  only  twenty  millions  had  been  issued),  depreci 
ation  set  in.  In  1778,  a  dollar  would  buy  only  twelve  cents' 
worth  of  goods.  In  1781,  Thomas  Paine  paid  $  300  for  a  pair 
of  woolen  stockings,  and  Jefferson  records  a  fee  of  $  3000  to  a 
physician  for  two  visits.  "  Not  worth  a  continental "  became 
a  byword.  Before  the  close  of  1781,  this  currency  ceased  to 
circulate  except  as  speculators  bought  it  up,  at  perhaps  a 
thousand  dollars  for 
one  in  coin.  A  mob 
used  it  to  "tar  and 
feather  "  a  dog ;  and 
McLaughliii  tells  of 
an  enterprising  bar 
ber  who  papered  his 
shop  with  continen 
tal  notes. 

All  this  meant  a 
reign  of  terror  in 
business.  Men  who, 
in  1775,  had  loaned  a 
neighbor  $  1000  in 
good  money  were 
compelled,  three  or 
four  years  later,  to 

take  in  payment  a  pile  of  paper  almost  without  value,  but 
named  $1000.  Prices  varied  fantastically  from  one  day  to 
another,  and  in  neighboring  localities  on  the  same  day.  Wages 
and  salaries  rose  more  slowly  than  prices  (as  is  always  the  case), 
and  large  classes  of  the  people  suffered  exceedingly  in  conse 
quence. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  "  cheap  money "  was 
the  only  money  Congress  could  get.  If  a  "note"  had  ever 
been  repaid,  it  would  have  been  in  reality  a  "forced  loan." 


t&  Bearer  tt  receilts 
T  H  t  a  T  Y  Spanifli 
d    DOLLARS 


A  CONTINENTAL  BILL  printed  by  Hall  and 
Sellars,  Philadelphia,  in  1776.  The  original 
is  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
collection. 


234  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR  [§  283 

Since  it  never  was  repaid,  it  amounted  to  a  tax,  or  a  confiscation 
of  private  property  for  public  uses,  —  the  tax  being  paid,  not 
by  one  man,  but  by  all  the  people  through  whose  hands  it 
passed.1  Such  taxation  was  horribly  wasteful  and  demoralizing ; 
but  it  was  the  only  kind  of  tax  to  which  the  people  would 
have  submitted  in  the  amount  required.  Without  the  paper 
money,  the  Revolution  could  not  have  been  won. 


OLD  SCHOOLHOUSE  AT  VALLEY  FORGE.     Used  by  Washington's  troops  as 
a  hospital.    Built  in  1705  by  Letitia  Aubrey,  second  daughter  of  William  Penn. 

283.  The  critical  years  of  the  war  were  '77  and  '78.  In  1777, 
Howe  invaded  Pennsylvania.  Washington  maneuvered  his 
inferior  forces  admirably.  He  retreated  when  he  had  to  ;  was 
robbed  of  a  splendidly  deserved,  decisive  victory  at  German- 

1  A  sold  a  horse  to  the  government  for  one  hundred  dollars  in  paper  cur 
rency;  when  he  passed  the  paper  on  to  B,  he  received  perhaps  only  ninety 
dollars  in  value  for  it.  Ten  dollars  had  been  taken  from  him  by  tax,  or  con 
fiscation.  B  perhaps  got  only  seventy  dollars'  worth  for  the  money ;  so  he 
had  been  "taxed"  twenty  dollars.  The  government  had  secured  the  horse 
for  a  piece  of  paper,  and  eventually  the  horse  was  paid  for  by  the  various 
people  in  whose  hands  the  paper  depreciated. 


§  283]  ALLIANCE   WITH  FRANCE  235 

town  only  by  a  mixture  of  chance  and  a  lack  of  veteran  disci 
pline  in  his  soldiers ;  and,  after  spinning  out  the  campaign  for 
months,  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Valley  Forge  —  then  to 
grow  famous  for  heroic  suffering.  Howe  had  won  the  empty 
glory  of  capturing  "  the  Rebel  Capital,"  —  where  he  now 
settled  down  to  a  winter  of  feasting  and  dancing ;  but  Wash 
ington  had  decoyed  him  from  his  chance  to  make  safe  Burgoyne's 
invasion  from  Canada,  and  so  crush  the  American  cause.  Lack 
ing  the  expected  cooperation  from  the  south,  Burgoyne  proved 
unable  to  secure  the  line  of  the  Hudson,  and  was  forced  to  sur 
render  to  the  incompetent  Gates. 

This  capture  of  an  entire  English  army  turned  the  wavering 
policy  of  France  into  firm  alliance  with  America  against  her 
ancient  rival.  From  the  first,  the  French  government  had 
furnished  the  Americans  with  money  and  supplies,  secretly 
and  indirectly;  and  many  adventurous  young  noblemen  like 
Lafayette,  imbued  with  the  new  liberal  philosophy  of  Rousseau, 
had  volunteered  for  service  under  Washington.  Franklin  had 
been  acting  as  the  American  agent  in  Paris  for  some  months 
without  formal  recognition.  Now  he  quickly  secured  a  treaty 
of  alliance  that  recognized  the  independence  of  the  United 
States.  The  possessions  of  the  two  allies  in  America  were 
mutually  guaranteed  ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  peace  with  Eng 
land  should  be  made  only  after  consultation  and  approval  by 
both  allies.1 

France  drew  Spain  in  her  train ;  and,  soon  after,  England 
quarreled  with  Holland.  Without  an  ally,  England  found 
herself  facing  not  merely  her  own  colonies,  but  the  three 
greatest  naval  powers  of  the  world  (next  to  herself),  while 
most  of  the  rest  of  Europe,  under  the  lead  of  Russia,  held 

1  Large  sections  of  the  French  people  felt  a  genuine  enthusiasm  for  Amer 
ica,  but  to  the  despotic  French  government  the  alliance  was  purely  a  4<  League 
of  Hatred."  Especially  did  the  French  government  fear  that  if  England  and 
her  colonies  again  united,  they  would  do  away  with  all  occasion  for  the  trouble 
some  "  Sugar  Act"  by  seizing  the  French  West  Indies.  Spain  and  Holland 
were  never  our  allies :  they  were  the  allies  of  France.  The  treaty  with  France 
is  the  only  alliance  America  has  ever  formed. 


236  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR  [§  284 

toward  her  an  attitude  of  "  armed  neutrality  "  —  which  meant 
instant  readiness  for  hostility  at  the  slightest  opening. 

In  America,  however,  the  darkest  months  of  the  war  were 
those  between  the  victory  over  Burgoyne  and  the  news  of  the 
French  alliance.  The  first  flush  of  enthusiasm  was  spent.  The 
infamous  Conway  Cabal  (among  officers  and  Congressmen) 
threatened  to  deprive  the  country  of  Washington's  services. 
Nearly  a  fifth  of  the  starving  army  deserted  to  the  well-fed  enemy 
in  Philadelphia,  and  another  fifth  could  not  leave  their  winter 
huts  for  want  of  clothing.  Washington  himself,  as  his  private 
letters  show,  was  so  depressed  by  "  the  spirit  of  disaffection  " 
in  the  country  that  he  felt  "  the  game  is  pretty  near  up."  The 
paper  money,  issued  by  Congress  in  constantly  increasing 
volume  —  the  chief  means  of  paying  the  soldiers  and  securing 
supplies  —  was  nearly  valueless.  Foreign  trade  was  impossible 
because  England  commanded  the  sea ;  and  domestic  industry 
of  all  sorts  was  at  a  standstill  because  of  the  demoralization  of 
the  currency.  To  large  numbers  of  patriots,  even  the  news  of 
the  new  ally  was  of  doubtful  cheer.  Many  began  to  fear  that 
they  had  only  exchanged  the  petty  annoyances  of  English  rule  for 
the  slavery  of  French  despotism  and  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
(Source  Book,  No.  144). 

Two  results  of  the  French  treaty  followed  close  upon  its 
announcement.  (1)  The  English  general  was  ordered  to  evacu 
ate  Philadelphia  and  concentrate  forces  at  New  York.  The 
watchful  Washington  was  close  upon  the  rear  of  the  retreating 
army,  but  at  Monmouth  his  strategy  and  dash  were  again 
robbed  of  the  fruit  of  victory,  —  this  time  by  the  misconduct  or 
treason  of  General  Charles  Lee.  (2)  Lord  North  sent  commis 
sioners  to  America  with  an  "  olive  branch  "  proposition :  all  the 
contentions  of  the  Americans,  previous  to  July  4,  1776,  would 
be  granted,  together  with  a  universal  amnesty,  if  they  would 
return  to  their  allegiance.  By  a  unanimous  vote,  Congress  re 
fused  to  consider  propositions  "  so  derogatory  to  the  honor  of 
an  independent  nation.'7 

284.   In  the  northern  States  no  British  army  of  consequence 


§  284]  THE   LOYALISTS  237 

again  appeared  in  the  field ;  and  Washington's  forces  there 
were  small.  Except  for  minor  operations,  the  war  was  trans 
ferred  to  the  South,  with  swift  alternations  of  success  and 
failure  through  1779  and  1780.  In  both  North  and  South, 
after  the  summer  of  '78,  the  struggle  took  on  a  new  character. 
It  became  a  "  war  of  desolation,"  —  a  succession  of  sudden  raids 
to  harry  and  distress  a  countryside  or  to  burn  a  town  or  port,1 
varied  by  occasional  bloody  and  vindictive  combats  like  those  at 
Cowpens  and  King's  Mountain. 

The  Loyalists  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  in 
Boston  and  Philadelphia  with  the  retirement  of  the  British 
forces,  together  with  those  living  near  the  British  stronghold 
of  New  York,  enrolled  themselves  in  large  numbers  under  the 
English  flag.  New  York  State  alone  furnished  15,000  recruits  to 
the  English  army,  besides  8000  more  Loyalist  militia.  It  has 
been  said  that  at  important  periods,  more  Americans  were 
under  arms  against  independence  than  for  it.  Because  of  their 
knowledge  of  the  country,  these  Tory  troops  were  used  freely 
in  harrying  expeditions.  In  consequence,  the  attitude  of  the 
Whig  governments,  State  and  local,  toward  even  the  passive 
sympathizers  with  England,  became  ferocious.  Those  unhappy 
men  who  had  long  since  been  deprived  of  their  votes  were  now 
excluded  from  professions  and  many  other  employments,  for 
bidden  to  move  from  place  to  place,  ruined  by  manifold  fines, 
drafted  into  the  army,  imprisoned  on  suspicion,  sometimes  de 
ported  with  their  families  in  herds  to  distant  provinces,  and 

1  A  terrible  feature  of  some  of  these  raids  was  the  use  of  Indian  allies  by 
the  English.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Americans  had  first  tried 
to  secure  such  allies.  Both  Washington  and  John  Adams  had  favored  their 
enlistment.  Montgomery  had  some  Indians  in  the  army  with  which  he  in 
vaded  Canada,  and  there  were  a  few  in  the  American  army  besieging  Boston 
in  1775.  It  had  been  intended  to  use  the  friendship  of  the  natives  for  the 
French  in  order  to  draw  them  into  a  force  under  Lafayette.  The  simple  fact 
is  that  Indians  had  been  used  by  both  sides  in  America  in  all  the  intercolonial 
wars,  and  both  parties  in  this  new  contest  continued  their  use  so  far  as  possi 
ble;  but  the  natives  saw  truly  that  the  real  enemy  of  their  race  was  the 
American  settler,  and  therefore  turned  against  him.  Cf .  Parkman's  Montcalm 
and  Wolfe,  II,  421,  and  Roosevelt's  Winning  of  the  West,  II,  87. 


238 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 


[§285 


constantly  exposed  to  the  most  horrible  forms  of  mob  violence. 
If  they  succeeded  in  escaping  to  the  British  lines,  their  prop 
erty  was  confiscated  (oftentimes  to  enrich  grafting  speculators 
at  corruptly  managed  sales),  and  they  themselves,  by  hundreds 

at  a  time,  were  condemned 
to  death  in  case  of  return 
or  recapture,  —  not  by 
judicial  trials,  but,  with 
out  a  hearing,  by  bills  of 
attainder.1 

285.  Seemingly,  the  war 
had  settled  down  to  a  test 
of  endurance.  Campaigns 
in  Europe  and  the  West 
Indies  drained  England's 
resources,  glorious  though 
the  results  were  to  her 
arms  against  those  tre- 


iln  1778  Massachusetts,  by 
one  Act,  banished  310  "  peace 
ful"  Tories.  More  than  sixty 
of  these  were  Harvard  gradu 
ates  and  the  list  held  the  names 
of  the  most  famous  families  con 
nected  with  New  England's  his 
tory. 

A  "bill  of  attainder"  is  a 
legislative  act  imposing  penal 
ties  upon  one  or  more  individu 
als.  The  legislature  condemns, 
not  the  courts;  and  of  course 
the  accused  lose  all  the  ordinary 

securities  against  injustice.  Such  bills  had  been  used  occasionally  in  English 
history.  By  our  constitution  of  1787,  bills  of  attainder  are  wholly  forbidden. 
Until  the  adoption  of  that  instrument,  however,  many  States  did  pass  such 
bills  against  prominent  Tories,  —  sometimes  against  great  numbers  of  them 
at  once.  An  attempt  was  made  in  the  Virginia  bill  of  rights  to  prohibit  such 
bills;  but  Patrick  Henry  urged  that  they  might  be  indispensable  in  that 
time  of  war.  Some  States  incorporated  the  prohibition  in  their  first  bill  of 
rights. 


COLONEL  BAUASTBE  TABLETON,  the  com 
mander  of  "Tarleton's  Legion,"  the 
most  famous  of  all  the  Loyalist  regi 
ments.  A  painting  by  Reynolds. 


286] 


YORKTOWN 


239 


mendous  odds.1  Meantime,  in  America,  Congress  kept  its  sink 
ing  finances  afloat  by  generous  gifts  and  huge  loans  from 
France.  The  army,  however,  was  dangerously  discontented. 
Desertions  to  the  enemy  rose  to  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  a 
month. 

Suddenly  an  unexpected  chance  offered.  Washington,  ever 
ready,  grasped  at  it,  and  this  time  no  evil  fate  intervened. 
With  the  indispensable  cooperation  of  the  French  army  and 
fleet,  Cornwallis  and  his  army  were  cooped  up  in  Yorktown.  With 


SURRENDER  OF  CORNWALLIS  AT  YORKTOWN.      From  the  painting  by 
Trumbull  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 

his  surrender  (October  19,  1781)  war  virtually  closed,  though 
peace  was  not  signed,  nor  British  troops  withdrawn  from  the 
American  coast,  for  many  months. 

286.  While  peace  negotiations  dragged  along  in  Europe, 
came  one  more  famous  episode  in  America.  This  was  Wash 
ington's  "  Newburg  Address."  The  pay  of  the  army  was  years 
behind,  and  Congress  showed  no  wish  to  settle  the  matter. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  soldiers'  bitter  discontent,  a  group  of 
officers  in  the  camp  at  Newburg  formed  a  plan  to  get  better 
1  Cf .  Modern  World,  §  498. 


240  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR  [§  287 

government  by  making  Washington  king.  This  proposition 
Washington  at  once  repulsed,  with  grieved  anger ;  but  still  an 
anonymous  committee  called  a  meeting  of  officers  to  find  some 
way  of  forcing  Congress  to  act  while  the  army  still  had  arms 
in  their  hands.  A  conflict  that  would  have  sullied  the  begin 
ning  of  the  new  nation's  career  was  averted  only  by  the  tact 
and  unrivaled  influence  of  Washington.  He  anticipated  the 
meeting  of  the  officers  by  calling  an  earlier  one  himself,  at 
which  he  prevailed  upon  their  patriotism  to  abandon  all  forms 
of  armed  compulsion ;  and  then  he  finally  prevailed  upon  Con 
gress  to  pay  a  five  years'  salary  in  government  certificates, 
worth  perhaps  twenty  cents  on  the  dollar,  —  a  meager  return, 
but  perhaps  all  that  the  demoralized  government  at  that  date 
was  equal  to. 

287.  The  negotiations  for  peace  were  carried  on  from  Paris, 
with  Franklin,  John  Jay,  and  John  Adams  to  represent  the 
United  States.     In  spite  of  King  George,  the  fall  of  Yorktown 
overthrew  Lord  North's  ministry ;  and  the  new  English  gov 
ernment  contained  statesmen  friendly  to  America,  such  as  Fox, 
Rockingham,  and  Shelburne  (§  230).      This  fact  and  the  re 
markable  ability  of  the  American  negotiators  resulted  in  a 
treaty   marvelously   advantageous.     England   could   not   well 
avoid  conceding  American  independence,  but  Shelburne  meant 
to  do  it  in  generous  fashion.     He  intended  not  merely  peace, 
he  said,  but  "  reconciliation  with  America,  on  the  noblest  terms 
and  by  the  noblest  means." 

288.  The  important  question  concerned  territory.     Just  before 
the  war  (1769),  a  few  Virginians  had  crossed  the  western  moun 
tains  to  settle  in  fertile  lands  between  the  Ohio  and  Cumberland 
rivers,  in  what  we  now  call  Kentucky  and  Tennessee ;  and, 
during  the  war  itself,  many  thousands  had  established  homes 
in  that  region.     From  the  Kentucky  settlements,  George  Rogers 
Clark,   a  Virginia    officer,    in    incredibly    daring    campaigns 
(1778-1779),   had   captured    from    England    the    old    French 
posts  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  on  the  Mississippi,  and  Vin- 
cennes   on   the  Wabash.     This    district,  though  it  contained 


§  290]  TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI  241 

still  only  French  settlers,  had  been  organized,  like  Kentucky, 
as  a  Virginia  county. 

The  Americans,  therefore,  had  ground  for  claiming  territory  to 
the  Mississippi)1  and  such  extension  of  territory  was  essential  to 
our  future  development.  England,  however,  at  first  expected  us 
to  surrender  this  thinly  settled  western  region  in  return  for 
the  evacuation  of  New  York,  Charleston,  and  other  cities  still 
held  by  her  armies.  Moreover,  France  and  Spain  secretly 
intended  that  the  treaty  should  shut  up  our  new  nation  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Appalachians,  leaving  the  northwest 
territory2  to  England,  and  the  southwest  to  Spain  and  the 
Indians. 

289.  By  the  treaty  of  1778,  we  were  bound  to  make  no  peace 
without  the  consent  of  France,  and  our  commissioners  had  been 
strictly  instructed  by  Congress  to  act  only  with  the  advice  of 
Vergennes,  the  French  minister.     But  Jay  and  Adams  suspected 
Vergennes  of  bad  faith,  and  finally  persuaded  Franklin  to  disre 
gard  the  instructions.3     With  patriotic  daring,  the  American 
commissioners  entered  into  secret  negotiations  with  England, 
and  secured  terms  which  Vergennes  could  not  well  refuse  to 
approve  when  the  draft  of  the  treaty  was  placed  before  him. 

290.  By  this  Treaty  of  1783,  England  acknowledged  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States,   with   territory   reaching  to  the. 
Mississippi,  and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  Florida,  surrendering, 

1  In  1777,  Clark  received  a  letter  of  encouragement  from  Jefferson,  who, 
even  so  early,  felt  keenly  the  importance  of  the  West.     "Much  solicitude," 
he  wrote,  "  will  be  felt  for  the  outcome  of  your  expedition  ...    If  successful, 
it  will  have  an  important  bearing  in  ultimately  establishing  our  northwestern 
boundary." 

2  Which  had  been  legally  a  part  of  Canada,  §  248,  note. 

8  France  had  no  desire  to  injure  America,  but  she  had  no  objection  to  leav 
ing  it  helpless  and  dependent  upon  her  favor ;  and  she  did  wish  to  satisfy  her 
ally  Spain,  whom  she  had  dragged  into  the  war.  The  story  goes  that,  while 
Franklin  and  Jay  were  discussing  the  situation,  Franklin  asked  in  surprise, 
"  What!  would  you  break  your  instructions?"  "  As  I  break  this  pipe,"  said 
Jay,  throwing  his  pipe  into  the  fireplace.  Franklin  had  rendered  incalculable 
diplomatic  service  to  his  country,  but  his  long  and  intimate  relations  with 
the  French  government  had  unfitted  him  for  an  independent  course  in  this 
crisis. 


242  THE   TREATY  OF   1783  [§  290 

without  consideration,  not  only  the  seacoast  cities  she  held, 
but  also  the  Northwest  posts,  which  had  never  been  seen  by 
an  American  army.  She  also  granted  to  the  Americans  the 
right  to  share  in  the  Newfoundland  fisheries,  from  which  other 
foreign  nations  were  shut  out.  In.  return,  the  American 
Congress  recommended  to  the  various  States  a  reasonable  treat 
ment  of  the  Loyalists,1  and  promised  solemnly  (a  matter  which 
should  have  gone  without  saying)  that  no  State  should  inter 
pose  to  prevent  Englishmen  from  recovering  in  American 
courts  the  debts  due  from  Americans  before  the  war.  No 


CROSSED  SWORDS  of  Colonel  William  Prescott  and  Captain  John  Linzee,  who 
fought  on  opposite  sides  at  Bunker  Hill.  A  grandson  of  Prescott  and  a 
granddaughter  of  Linzee  married,  and  the  offspring  of  this  marriage 
mounted  the  swords  in  this  way  "  in  token  of  international  friendship  and 
family  alliance."  From  a  photograph  of  the  mounted  swords,  which  are 
now  in  the  rooms  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical.  Society. 

wonder  that  the  chagrined  Vergennes  wrote :  "  The  English 
buy  the  peace,  rather  than  make  it.  ...  Their  concessions 
regarding  boundaries,  fisheries,  and  the  Loyalists  exceed  any 
thing  I  had  thought  possible." 

The  territorial  advantages,  however,  were  not  fully  enjoyed  by  the 
United  States  for  some  twelve  years.  When  the  English  forces  evac 
uated  the  American  seaports,  they  carried  away  a  few  hundred  Negroes, 
who,  they  claimed,  had  become  free  by  aiding  them  during  the  war,  and 
whom  they  would  not  now  surrender  to  their  old  masters.  The  American 
State  governments  made  this  a  pretext  for  deliberately  breaking  one  of  the 
most  reasonable  articles  of  the  treaty,  —  that  regarding  British  debts. 

1  The  American  negotiators  told  the  English  commissioners  frankly  that 
the  "  recommendation "  regarding  the  Loyalists  would  carry  no  weight. 
England  herself  afterwards  appropriated  large  sums  of  money  to  compensate 
partially  that  unfortunate  class  of  exiles. 


ACTUAL  OCCUPATION 

AND 
TREATY  BOUNDARIES  1783 

_  _  „  Nominal  Boundary  of  treaty  of  nss 

.%;*•*.*.  Settlements  west  of  the  Mountains 

SCALE  OF  MILES 

0    100   200   300   400    500   600 


5291]  MEANING  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  243 

Despite  the  pledged  faith  of  the  central  government,  State  after  State 
passed  laws  to  prevent  the  collection  of  such  debts  in  their  courts.  Mean 
time,  the  Americans  had  not  at  first  been  ready  to  take  over  the  posts  on 
the  Great  Lakes ;  and  when  they  desired  to  do  so,  England  refused  to 
surrender  them,  because  of  these  infractions  of  the  treaty. 

291.  The  period  of  the  Revolution  covers  twenty  years.  The  first 
twelve  were  spent  in  wrangling  ;  the  next  eight,  in  war  (1763-1775, 1775- 
1783).  That  war  created  the  first  American  state.  It  helped  to  make 
the  colonial  policy  of  all  European  countries  less  selfish  and  more  en 
lightened.  It  "laid  the  foundation  for  the  French  Revolution" 
(Modern  World,  §  536),  and  so  helped  modify  profoundly  the  internal 
character  of  Europe.  Whatever  their  blunders,  the  Americans  had 
"warred  victoriously  for  the  right  in  a  struggle  whose  outcome  vitally 
affected  the  whole  human  race." 

Says  an  English  historian, —  "The  American  Revolution  split  the 
English-speaking  race  —  and  doubled  its  influence."  Not  least  among 
its  results,  the  Revolution  helped  to  start  England  herself  upon  her 
splendid  march  to  democracy.  Now,  after  a  century  and  a  half,  the  two 
great  divisions  of  the  English-speaking  race  are  coming  together  once 
more  in  sympathetic  friendship,  again  to  "double  their  influence." 

FOE  FURTHER  READING  on  the  Treaty,  see  opening  chapters  of  Fiske's 
Critical  Period  or  of  McLaughlin's  Confederation  and  Constitution.  For 
other  matters,  see  close  of  chapter  xxi. 


PAET   IV 

THE  MAKING  OP  THE  SECOND  WEST 

The  West  is  the  most  American  part  of  America.  .  .  .  What  Europe 
is  to  Asia,  what  England  is  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  what  America  is  to 
England,  —  that  the  western  States  and  Territories  are  to  the  eastern 
States.  —  JAMES  BRYCE. 


CHAPTER   XXV 
BIRTH  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

292.  THE  land  between  the  Appalachians  and  the  Missis 
sippi  passed  from  France  to  England  in  1763  (§  181).     Some 
six  thousand  French  settlers  remained  in  the  district,  in  three 
nearly  equal  groups  :  (1)  about  Detroit  ;  (2)  near  Vincennes  ; 
(3)  at  the  "  Mississippi  towns,"  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  (map 
after  page  242).     For  several  years  more  these  were  the   only 
White  settlers;  and  in  1774  parliament  annexed  the  territory, 
as  far  south  as  the  Ohio,  to  the  old  French  province  of  Quebec 
(§  248,  note). 

The  whole  district  had  been  included  in  old  grants  to  the 
seaboard  colonies  ;  but  as  soon  as  England  got  control,  a 
Royal  Proclamation  forbade  English-speaking  colonists  to  settle 
west  of  the  mountains,  and  instructed  colonial  governors  to  make 
no  land-grants  there.  The  government  dreaded  Indian  wars  — 
sure  to  follow  the  advance  of  the  frontiersman  —  and  it  was 
influenced  by  commercial  companies  that  wished  to  keep  the 
vast  Mississippi  Valley  as  a  fur-trade  preserve. 

293.  Even  had  England  remained  in  control,  the  attempt  to 
shut  out  English-speaking  settlers  was  doomed  to  certain  failure. 

244 


§  294]        THE   "  DARK  AND  BLOODY  GROUND  "         245 

How  the  Scotch-Irish  and  Germans  made  a  first  "  West "  in  the 
long  valleys  of  the  Appalachians  soon  after  1700  has  been  told 
(§  180).  A  half  century  or  so  later  their  Americanized  sons 
and  grandsons  were  ready  to  make  a  greater  and  truer  West 
in  the  eastern  half  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Those 
restless  border  farmers  had  begun  to  feel  crowded  in  their 
narrow  homes.  For  some  years,  stray  hunters,1  who  had  ven 
tured  as  far  west  as  the  great  river,  stirred  the  Appalachian 
frontier  with  romantic  stories  of  the  wonders  and  riches  of 
the  vast  central  basin,  and  just  before  the  Revolution  a  few 
hardy  families  pushed  the  line  of  American  settlement  across  the 
mountains. 

294.  This  movement  into  the  second  "  West "  grew  all  through 
the  Revolution.  It  is  natural  for  us  to  think  of  the  years 
1775-1783  as  given  wholly  to  patriotic  war  for  political  inde 
pendence.  But  during  just  those  years  thousands  of  earnest 
Americans  turned  away  from  that  contest  to  win  industrial 
independence  for  themselves  and  their  children  beyond  the 
mountains.  While  the  old  Atlantic  sections  were  fighting 
England,  a  new  section  sprang  into  being,  fighting  Indians  and 
the  wilderness. 

Until  the  Peace  of  1783,  settlement  penetrated  only  into  the 
"  dark  and  bloody  ground  "  between  the  Ohio  and  its  southern 
branches.  This  district  had  long  been  a  famous  hunting 
ground,  where  Indians  of  the  north  and  of  the  south  slew  the 
bison  and  one  another.  Frequent  war  parties  flitted  along  its 
trails,  but  no  tribe  claimed  it  for  actual  occupation.  So  here  lay 
the  "  line  of  least  resistance "  to  the  on-pushing  wave  of 
settlement. 

The  next  chapter  will  give  the  story  of  this  Southwest  down  to  1789. 
American  settlement  did  not  begin  in  the  land  north  of  the  Ohio  until 
after  the  Revolution.  The  story  of  the  Northwest  will  be  given  in  the 
second  chapter  following. 

1  All  boys  will  delight  in  Roosevelt's  story  of  "  Boone  and  the  Long 
Hunters"  in  No-inan's  Land  (Winning  of  the  West,  I,  ch.  vi). 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  SOUTHWEST:   SELF-DEVELOPED 

295.  In  1769,  a  few  Virginia  frontiersmen  moved  their  families 
into  the  valley  of  the  Watauga,  one  of  the  headwaters  of  the 
Tennessee.  They  thought  themselves  still  in  Virginia,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1771  they  were  joined  by  fugitive  Eegulators 


WESTERN  SETTLEMENT,  1769-1784. 

from  North  Carolina  (§  231).  The  same  summer,  however,  a 
surveyor  "ran  out"  the  southern  boundary  of  Virginia  and 
found  that  Watauga  lay  in  territory  claimed  by  North  Carolina. 
That  colony  was  in  no  condition  to  care  for  so  distant  and 
inaccessible  a  section,1  nor  would  the  Watauga  settlers  submit 

1  Communication  with  Virginia,  though  difficult  enough,  was  possible,  be 
cause  the  long  valleys  trending  to  the  northeast  ran  near  together  as  they 

246 


§  297]  WATAUGA  247 

to  more  Carolina  injustice.  Instead  they  set  up  for  themselves. 
In  1772  they  adopted  a  written  constitution  and  became  an  in 
dependent,  self-governing  community. 

296.  Two  leaders  stand  forth  in  this  westward  movement  into 
Tennessee,  —  James  Robertson  and   John   Sevier.     Robertson 
was  a  mighty  hunter  who  had  spied  out  the  land  to  find  a 
better  home  for  his  family.     A  backwoodsman  born,  he  had 
learned  "  letters  and  to  spell "  after  marriage,  from  his  wife ; 
but  he  was  a  natural  leader,  with  splendid  qualities  of  heart 
and  head.     Sevier  was  a  "  gentleman  "  of  old  Huguenot  family 
and  of  some  culture.     He  was  the  most  dashing  figure  of  the 
early  frontier,  —  a  daring  Indian  fighter  and  an  idolized  states 
man  among  his  rough  companions. 

297.  The  essential  thing  about  Watauga,  however,  was  not 
its  leaders,  but  the   individuality  and  democracy  of  the  whole 
population.      Immigrants   came   in  little   groups   of   families, 
those  from  Carolina  by  a  long  detour  through  Virginia.     No 
wagon  roads  pointed  west ;  and  it  was  a  generation  more  before 
the  white,  canvas-covered  wagon  (afterward  familiar  as  the 
"prairie  schooner")  became  the  token  of  the  immigrant.     At 
best,  the  early  Southwest  had   only  dim.  and   rugged   trails 
through  the  forests  ("  traces  "  blazed  by  the  hatchet  on  trees). 
Along  such  trails,  men,  rifle  always  in  hand,  led  pack  horses 
loaded  with  young  children  and  a  few  necessary  supplies ; 
while  the  women  and  older  children  drove  the  few  lean  cattle. 

By  1772  the  settlers  were  grouped  about  thirteen  "  stations." 
A  "station"  was  a  stockaded  fort  of  considerable  size.  One 
side  was  formed  usually  by  a  close  row  of  log  huts,  facing  in. 
The  remaining  sides,  with  a  log  "  blockhouse  "  at  each  corner, 
were  a  close  fence  of  hewn  "pickets,"  considerably  higher 
than  a  man's  head,  driven  firmly  into  the  ground  and  bound 


entered  that  State.  But  a  hundred  miles  of  forest-clad  mountains,  without  a 
trail  fit  even  for  a  pack  horse,  divided  Watauga  from  the  nearest  settlements 
in  North  Carolina.  Watauga  itself  lay  with  mountains  to  the  west,  as  well  as 
to  the  east ;  but  its  water  communication  with  the  Mississippi  justifies  us  in 
regarding  it  as  part  of  the  land  "  west  of  the  moun tarns." 


248 


THE   SOUTHWEST,    1769-1789 


[§  298 


together.  Within  were  supply  sheds  for  a  short  siege,  and 
sometimes  a  central  and  larger  blockhouse,  —  a  sort  of  inner 
"keep."  Stockade  and  blockhouses  were  loopholed  at  con 
venient  intervals  for  rifles,  and,  except  for  surprise  or  fire, 

such  a  fort  was  impreg 
nable  against  any  attack 
without  cannon. 

The  fort,  however,  was 
only  for  times  of  extraor 
dinary    danger.      Ordina 
rily,    the    families    lived 
apart,  each  in  its  log  cabin 
upon  its  own  farm.     The 
holdings  were  usually  of 
BOONSBORO  (see  §301)  IN  WINTER.    From    from   four   hundred   to  a 
a   print,   based   upon  contemporary  ac-    thousand    acres ;    but    for 
counts.     The  structure  was  250  feet  long  ^       remained 

and  125  feet  wide,  with  heavy  gates  at 

the  middle  of  the  long  sides.  forest-covered,  except  for 

a  small   stump-dotted 

"  clearing,"  about  each  cabin.  The  clearings  nearest  one  an 
other  were  often  separated  by  miles  of  dense  primitive  forest. 
At  an  alarm  of  Indians,  all  families  of  a  "  station  "  abandoned 
these  scattered  homes  and  sought  refuge  within  the  stockade. 
In  more  peaceful  times,  "  neighbors,"  from  many  miles  around, 
gathered  to  a  "house-raising"  for  a  newcomer  or  for  some 
one  whose  old  home  had  been  destroyed  by  fire.  The  two 
qualities  that  especially  characterized  this  new  West,  says 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  were  "  capacity  for  self-help  and  capacity 
for  combination." 

298.  In  the  spring  of  1772  the  men  of  the  thirteen  forts 
gathered  at  Robertson's  station  in  mass  meeting,  to  organize  a 
government.  This  meeting  adopted  Articles  of  Association,  — 
"a  written  constitution,  the  first  ever  adopted  west  of  the  moun 
tains,  or  by  a  community  of  American-born  freemen"  l  Manhood 

1  The  Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut  (§  126)  had  been  formed,  of 
course,  by  English  -nurtured  men. 


§  299] 


BOONE   IN  KENTUCKY 


249 


suffrage  and  absolute  religious  freedom  were  main  features.1 

A  representative  convention  of  thirteen,  one  from  each  station, 

chose  a  "  court "  of  five  members  who  formed  the  government. 

This  body  of  commissioners  held  regular  meetings  and  managed 

affairs  with  little  regard 

for   legal    technicalities, 

but    with    sound    sense. 

For  six  years  Watauga 

was    an    independent 

political    community. 

Then,  in  1778,  when  the 

Revolution  had  reformed 

North  Carolina,  Watauga 

recognized  the  authority 

of  that  State  and  became 

Washington  County. 

299.  The  second  group 
of  Western  settlements 
—  almost  as  early  as 
Watauga  —  was  made  in 
Kentucky.  Among  the 
many  daring  hunters  and 
Indian  fighters,  who,  pre 
ceding  settlement,  had 
ventured  from  time  to 
time  into  the  bloody 
Indian  hunting  grounds 
south  of  the  Ohio,  Daniel 
Boone  was  the  most 
famous.  As  early  as 
1760,  Boone  hunted  west 
of  the  mountains  ;  and  in  1769  (the  year  Watauga  was  founded) 
he  went  on  a  "  long  hunt "  there  with  six  companions.  After 
five  weeks'  progress  through  the  forest  stretching  continuously 

1  The  student  must  remember  how  far  short  of  such  democracy  fell  the 
Revolutionary  constitutions  of  the  Eastern  States  four  or  five  years  later. 


A  "  BOONE  TREE,"  on  Boone's  Creek, 
Tennessee.  The  inscription  reads:  D. 
Boon  cilled  a  bar  on  this  tree  year  1760. 


250  THE   SOUTHWEST,    1769-1789  [§  300 

from  the  Atlantic,  this  little  party  broke  through  its  western 
fringe  and  stood  upon  the  verge  of  the  vast  prairies  of  America. 
They  had  come  to  the  now  famous  "  blue-grass  "  district  of 
Kentucky. 

Hitherto  (except  for  petty  Indian  clearings)  American  colo 
nists  had  had  to  win  homes  slowly  with  the  ax  from  the 
stubborn  forest.  Now  before  the  eyes  of  these  explorers  there 
spread  away  a  lovely  land,  where  stately  groves  and  running 
waters  intermingled  with  rich  open  prairies  and  grassy 
meadows,1  inviting  the  husbandman  to  easy  possession  and 
teeming  with  game  for  the  hunter,  —  herds  of  bison,  elk,  and 
deer,  as  well  as  bear  and  wolves  and  wild  turkey,  in  abundance 
unguessed  before  by  English-speaking  men. 

In  the  following  months,  hard  on  the  trail  of  the  hunters, 
followed  various  small  expeditions  of  backwoods  surveyors 
and  would-be  settlers,  in  spite  of  frequent  death  by  the  scalp 
ing  knife  and  at  the  stake.2  In  particular,  Boone  returned 
again  and  again,  and,  in  1773,  he  sold  his  Carolina  home,  to 
settle  in  the  new  land  of  promise.  His  expedition  was  re 
pulsed,  however,  by  a  savage  Indian  attack,  and  the  next  year 
the  opening  of  a  great  Indian  War  along  the  Virginian  and 
Pennsylvanian  border  drove  every  settler  out  of  Kentucky. 

300.  This  was  "Lord  Dunmore's  War."  Without  provoca 
tion,  a  dastard  White  trader  had  murdered  the  helpless  family 
of  Logan,  a  friendly  Iroquois  chieftain.  In  horrible  retalia 
tion  a  mighty  Indian  confederacy  was  soon  busied  with  torch 
and  tomahawk  on  the  western  frontiers.  Pennsylvania  suffered 
most,  and  the  dilatory  government  there  did  little  to  protect 
its  citizens.  Virginia,  however,  acted  promptly.  To  crush 
the  confederacy  she  sent  an  army  far  beyond  her  line  of  settle- 


1  The  prairies  proper,  even  when  reached,  did  not  at  first  attract  settlers. 
The  lack  of  fuel  and  often  of  water  more  than  made  up  for  difficulty  of  clear 
ing  forest  land.    But  Kentucky  offered  a  happy  mixture. 

2  Very  soon,  indeed,  the  colonist  learned  that  the  Woods  Indian  of  the 
West  — armed  now  almost  as  well  as  the  Whites  — was  a  far  more  formidable 
foe  than  the  weak  tribes  of  the  coast  had  been. 


§  301]  LORD  DUNMORE'S  WAR  251 

merit,  into  the  distant  Northwest,  —  where  she  claimed  juris 
diction  (§  44),  though  parliament  had  just  annexed  the  territory 
to  Quebec.  This  Virginian  force  was  composed  chiefly  of 
hardy  frontier  riflemen,  with  deerskin  hunting  shirts  for  uni 
form,  but,  by  a  curious  contrast,  it  was  led  by  an  English 
earl,  the  royal  governor,  Lord  Dunmore. 

The  rear  division  of  the  army,  when  about  to  cross  the  Ohio 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  was  surprised,  through  the 
splendid  generalship  of  the  Indian  leader  Cornstalk,  by  the 
whole  force  of  the  natives  ;  but,  after  a  stubborn  pitched  battle, 
the  frontiersmen  won  a  decisive  victory.  This  Battle  of  the 
Great  Kanawha  is  as  important  as  any  conflict  ever  waged  be 
tween  Whites  and  Redrnen.  Says  Theodore  Roosevelt :  "  It 
so  cowed  the  northern  Indians  that  for  two  or  three  years  they 
made  no  organized  attempt  to  check  the  White  advance.  .  .  . 
[It]  gave  opportunity  for  Boone  to  settle  in  Kentucky  and, 
therefore,  for  Robertson  to  settle  Middle  Tennessee,  and  for 
Clark  to  conquer  Illinois  and  the  Northwest.  It  was  the  first 
link  in  the  chain  of  causes  that  gave  us  for  our  western  boundary 
in  1783  the  Mississippi,  and  not  the  Alleghenies  "  (§  288). 

301.  Permanent  settlement  in  central  Kentucky  began  the 
next  spring  (1775).  For  a  few  months  it  had  the  form  of  a 
proprietary  colony.  A  certain  Henderson,  a  citizen  of  North 
Carolina,  bought  from  the  southern  Indians  their  rights  to  a 
great  tract  in  central  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  He  named 
the  proposed  colony  Transylvania,  and  secured  Boone  as  his 
agent.  In  March  and  April,  Boone  and  a  strong  company 
marked  out  the  Wilderness  Road l  and  began  to  build  "  Boone's 
Fort."  Henderson  soon  arrived  with  a  considerable  colony. 

1  This  famous  Wilderness  Road  was  for  many  years  merely  a  narrow  bridle 
path,  through  the  more  passable  parts  of  the  forest  and  across  the  easiest 
fords,  leading  two  hundred  miles  from  the  Holston  River  (near  Watauga) 
into  central  Kentucky.  In  the  worst  places,  the  thick  underbrush  was  cut 
out ;  but  much  of  the  time  only  the  direction  was  blazed  on  trees.  It  long 
remained  the  chief  road  from  the  West  to  the  Atlantic  regions.  Immigrants 
soon  began,  it  is  true,  to  float  down  the  Ohio ;  but  that  route  was  more 
exposed  to  Indian  attack,  and  return  up  the  river  in  that  day  was  impossible. 


252 


THE   SOUTHWEST,    1769-1789 


[§  302 


But  the  Revolution  ruined  all  prospect  of  English  sanction  for 
his  proprietary  claims,  and  Virginia  firmly  asserted  her  title 
to  the  territory.  Henderson  soon  passed  from  the  scene  ;  and, 
in  1777,  Kentucky,  with  its  present  bounds,  was  organized  as  a 
county  of  Virginia. 

Kentucky  already  contained  several  hundred  fighting  men, 
and  now  it  became  the  base  from  which  George  Rogers  Clark  con 
quered  the  Northwest  (§  288).  Before  the  close  of  the  Ee vo 
lution,  Kentucky's  population 
exceeded  25,000 ;  and  when 
peace  made  Indian  hostility 
less  likely,  a  still  larger  immi 
gration  began  to  crowd  the 
Wilderness  Road  and  the  Ohio. 
302.  Meanwhile  Watauga  had 
become  the  mother  of  a  still 
more  western  colony.  Popula 
tion  had  increased  rapidly,  and 
some  of  the  earlier  "  forts " 
had  grown  into  straggling 
villages.  At  the  end  of  ten 
years,  it  was  no  longer  a  place 
for  the  real  frontiersmen ;  and, 
in  1779,  Robertson,  with  some 
of  his  more  restless  neighbors, 
migrated  once  more  to  a  new 
wilderness  home  in  west-central  Tennessee,  on  the  bend  of  the 
Cumberland. 

These  "Cumberland  settlements"  were  the  third  group  of 
English-speaking  colonists  in  the  Southwest.  Population 
thronged  into  the  fertile  district,  with  the  usual  proportion  of 
undesirable  frontier  characters  ;  and  the  settlers  found  it  need 
ful  at  once  to  provide  a  government.  May  1,  1780,  a  conven 
tion  of  representatives  at  Nashboro  adopted  a  "  constitution," 
-  which,  however,  was  styled  by  the  makers  merely  "  a  tem 
porary  method  of  restraining  the  licentious." 


DANIEL  BOONK  at  85  (in  1819),  when 
he  had  moved  on  into  frontier  Mis 
souri.  From  a  portrait  by  Chester 
Harding,  now  in  the  Filson  Club, 
Louisville,  Ky. 


§  304]          ROBERTSON   ON  THE   CUMBERLAND  253 

A  few  days  later,  this  "  social  compact "  was  signed  by  every 
adult  male  settler,  256  in  number.  It  provided  for  a  court  of 
twelve  "judges,"  chosen  by  manhood  suffrage  in  the  several 
stations.  If  dissatisfied  with  its  representative,  a  station 
might  at  any  time  hold  a  new  election  (the  modern  "  recall "). 
Like  the  early  Watauga  "  commissioners,"  the  "  judges " 
exercised  all  powers  of  government.  The  constitution,  how 
ever,  expressly  recognized  the  right  of  North  Carolina  to  rule 
the  district  when  she  should  be  ready ;  and  in  1783  that  State 
organized  the  Cumberland  settlements  into  Davidson  County. 

303.  A  year  later  (1784)  North  Carolina  ceded  her  western 
lands   to   the   Continental   Congress.      The   Westerners   com 
plained  loudly  that  the  mother-State  had  cast  them  off,  and 
that  the  dilatory  Congress  was  not  ready  to  accept  them.     The 
three   counties   of  eastern   Tennessee    (about  Watauga)   now 
numbered  10,000  people.     August  23,  1784,  a  representative  con 
vention  of   forty  delegates  declared  this  district  an  independent 
State  with  the  name  Frankland  ("  Land  of  the  Free "). 

A  later  convention  adopted  a  constitution,  and  a  full  state 
government  was  set  up,  with  Sevier  as  governor.1  But  North 
Carolina  "  repealed  "  her  cession  (Congress  not  having  acted)  ;  and 
after  some  years  of  struggle  that  rose  even  into  war,  she  suc 
ceeded  in  restoring  her  authority. 

304.  For  some  years,  only  feeble  ties  held  the  Western  settle 
ments  to  the  Atlantic  States.     The  men  of  the  West  made  con 
tinuous  efforts  for  Statehood ;  but  these  efforts  were  opposed 
not  only  by  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  but  also  by  Congress. 
Then,  at  one  time  or  another,  in  each  of  the  three  groups  of 
settlements,  these  legitimate  attempts  merged  obscurely  in  less 
justifiable   plots   for   complete   separation   from  the   Eastern 
confederacy.     For  even  this  extreme  phase  of  the  movement, 

!The  first  legislature  of  Frankland  had  to  fix  a  currency  "in  kind":  a 
pound  of  sugar  was  to  pass  as  one  shilling ;  a  fox  or  raccoon  skin  for  two 
shillings ;  a  gallon  of  peach  brandy  for  three  shillings,  and  so  on.  Easterners 
laughed  contemptuously  at  this  "  money  which  cannot  be  counterfeited," 
forgetting  how  their  fathers  had  used  like  currency  (§  208). 


254  THE   SOUTHWEST  TO   1789  [§  305 

there  was  great  provocation  in  the  gross  neglect  shown  by 
the  East  toward  pressing  needs  in  the  West. 

The  older  States  had  just  rebelled  against  the  colonial  policy 
of  Great  Britain ;  but  they  showed  a  strong  inclination  to  retain 
a  selfish  policy  toward  their  own  "colonies"  in  the  West. 
Even  in  the  matter  of  protection  against  Indians,  they  ham 
pered  the  frontier  without  giving  aid.  The  Westerners  made 
many  petitions  (1)  to  control  directly  their  own  militia ; 
(2)  to  be  divided  into  smaller  counties  —  with  courts  more 
accessible  ;  and  (3)  to  have  a  "  court  of  appeal  "  established  on 
their  side  of  the  mountains.  Many  a  poor  man  found  legal 
redress  for  wrong  impossible  because  a  richer  opponent  could 
appeal  to  a  seaboard  supreme  court.  These  reasonable  re 
quests  were  refused  contemptuously  by  North  Carolina,  and 
granted  only  grudgingly  by  Virginia.  More  distant  Eastern 
communities,  too,  notably  New  England,  manifested  a  harsh 
jealousy  of  the  West  (§  349). 

305.  In  particular  the  East  long  neglected  to  secure  for  the  new 
West  the  right  to  use  the  lower  Mississippi.  For  nearly  all  its 
course,  one  bank  of  the  Mississippi  was  American  ;  but,  by  the 
treaties  of  1783,  toward  the  mouth  both  banks  were  Spain's. 
According  to  the  policy  of  past  ages,  Spain  could  close  against 
us  this  outlet  for  our  commerce.  But  the  surplus  farm  produce 
of  the  West  could  not  be  carried  to  the  East  over  bridle  paths. 
Without  some  route  to  the  outside  world,  it  was  valueless  ;  and 
the  only  possible  route  in  that  day  was  the  huge  arterial  system 
of  natural  waterways  to  the  Gulf. 

So,  from  the  first,  the  backwoodsmen  floated  their  grain  and 
stock  in  flatboats  down  the  smaller  streams  to  the  Ohio,  and 
so  on  down  the  great  central  river  to  New  Orleans.  They 
encountered  shifting  shoals,  hidden  snags,  treacherous  currents, 
savage  ambuscades,  and  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  weari 
some  return  on  foot  through  the  Indian-haunted  forests, 
These  natural  perils  the  frontiersman  accepted  light-heartedly  ; 
but  he  was  moved  to  bitter  wrath,  when  —  his  journey  accom 
plished  —  fatal  harm  befell  him  at  his  port.  He  had  to  have 


§  306] 


JEALOUSY  AND  NEGLECT 


255 


"right  of  deposit"  at  New  Orleans,  in  order  to  reship  to 
ocean  vessels.  Spanish  governors  granted  or  withheld  that 
privilege  at  pleasure  —  until  1795,  when  a  treaty  secured  it, 
nominally,  for  a  brief  and  uncertain  period  (§  407).  Even 


A  MISSISSIPPI  AND  OHIO  RIVER  FLATBOAT. 

then,  ruinous  bribes  were  still  necessary  to  prevent  confiscation 
by  Spanish  officials  on  some  pretense. 

Our  government  showed  little  eagerness  in  this  life-or-death 
matter ;  but  the  West  seethed  with  furious  demands  for 
possession  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  How  to  get  it 
mattered  little.  The  Westerners  would  help  Congress  win  it 
from  Spain;  or  they  were  ready  to  try  to  win  it  by  them 
selves,  setting  up,  if  need  be,  as  a  separate  nation  ;  or  some  of 
them  were  ready  even  to  buy  the  essential  privilege  by  putting 
their  settlements  under  the  Spanish  flag. 

306.  The  last  measure  was  never  discussed  publicly ;  but 
Sevier,  Robertson,  and  Clark  were  all  at  some  time  concerned 


256  THE  SOUTHWEST  TO   1789  [§  306 

secretly  in  such  dubious  negotiations  with  Spanish  agents. 
American  nationality  was  just  in  the  making.  It  was  natural 
for  even  good  men  to  look  almost  exclusively  to  the  welfare 
of  their  own  section,  and  the  action  of  these  great  leaders  does 
not  expose  them  to  charges  of  lack  of  patriotism  in  any  shame 
ful  sense,1  —  as  would  be  the  case  in  a  later  day.  Still  we 
should  see  that  they  struggled  in  this  matter  on  the  wrong 


AN  OLD  OHIO  MILL,  built  soon  after  1790.    Note  the  log  house   in   the 
background,  and  the  stumps  unremoved. 

side.  It  was  well  that,  about  1790,  they  were  pushed  aside  by  a 
new  generation  of  immigrants,  who  were  able  to  "  think  con- 
tinentally."  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  too,  were  finally 
persuaded  to  give  up  their  claims.  In  1792,  Kentucky  became 
a  State  of  the  Union,  and,  four  years  later,  Tennessee  was  ad 
mitted.  The  remaining  lands  south  of  the  Ohio  that  had  been 
ceded  by  that  time  to  the  United  States  (§  311),  were  then 
organized  as  the  Mississippi  Territory. 

1  Cf.  Roosevelt's  Winning  of  the  West,  III.  These  men  must  not  be  con 
founded  with  a  fellow  like  General  Wilkinson,  who,  while  an  American 
officer,  took  a  pension  from  Spain  for  assisting  her  interests  in  the  West. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
THE  NORTHWEST  :  A  NATIONAL  DOMAIN 

307.  The  Southwest,   we  have  seen,  was  a  self-developed  section. 
Except  for  Henderson's  futile  project,  there  was  no  paternalism.     No 
statesman  planned  its  settlements  ;  no  general  directed  the  conquest  of 
territory  ;  no  older  government,  State  or  Federal,  fostered  development. 
The  land  was  won  from  savage  man  and  savage  nature  by  little  bands 
of  self-associated  backwoodsmen,  piece  by  piece,  from  the  Watauga  to 
the  Rio  Grande,  in  countless  bloody  but  isolated  skirmishes,  generation 
after  generation.     Settlement  preceded  governmental  organization. 

In  the  Northwest,  government  preceded  settlement.  The  first  colonists 
found  (i)  territorial  divisions  marked  off,  and  the  form  of  government 
largely  determined ;  (2)  land  surveys  ready  for  the  farmer ;  and 
(3)  some  military  protection.  All  this  was  arranged  in  advance  by  the 
national  government.  This  child  of  the  nation,  therefore,  never  showed 
the  tendencies  to  separatism  which  we  have  noted  in  the  Southwest. 

I.     OWNERSHIP  BY   THE  NATION 

308.  Six  States   could  make  no  claim  to  any  part  of  the 
West,  —  Maryland,    Pennsylvania,    Delaware,    New    Jersey, 
New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island;  and  the  title  of   South 
Carolina  applied  only  to  a  strip  of  land  some  twenty  miles 
wide.     But,  as   soon  as   the  'Revolution  began,  the   other   six 
States  reasserted  loudly  old  colonial  claims  to  all  the  vast  region 
between  the  mountains  and  the  Mississippi.1     They  planned  to 
use  these  lands,  too,  in  paying  their  soldiers  and  other  war  ex 
penses,  while  the  small  States  taxed  themselves  in  hard  cash 
for  the  war  which  was  to  win  the  territory  from  England. 

Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  it  has  been  noted,  were  claimed  by  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia  long  insisted  upon  a  flimsy  title  to  a 
wide  reach  of  land  extending  to  the  Mississippi.  So  far,  there  were  at 

1  The  map  facing  page  259  should  be  studied  as  part  of  the  text,  for  this 
topic.  Cf.  also  Source  Book,  No.  146. 

257 


258  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST  [§  309 

least  no  conflicts  of  title  between  the  States.  But  north  of  the  Ohio, 
there  were  many  conflicting  claims.  Virginia  claimed  all  the  Northwest, 
under  her  old  charter  (§  32),  and  she  had  done  much  to  give  real  life  to 
this  weak  title  by  taking  steps  toward  actual  possession  —  in  Dunmore's 
War  and  in  Clark's  conquest  of  Illinois,  and,  from  1779  to  1784,  by  gov 
erning  the  district  from  Vincennes  to  Kaskaskia  as  the  County  of  Illinois. 
New  York  also  claimed  all  the  Northwest,  but  by  the  slightest  of  all 
titles.1  The  middle  third  of  the  Northwest  was  claimed  also  by  both 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  on  the  basis  of  their  ancient  charters. 


While  opposing  these  "large  State"  claims,  Maryland 
invented  a  new  and  glorious  colonial  policy  for  America,  and, 
standing  alone  through  a  stubborn  four-year  struggle,  she 
forced  the  Union  to  adopt  it.  As  early  as  November,  1776, 
a  Maryland  Convention  set  forth  this  resolution :  — 

"That  the  back  lands,  claimed  by  the  British  crown,  if  secured  by  the 
blood  and  treasure  of  all,  ought,  in  reason,  justice,  and  policy,  to  be  con 
sidered  a  common  stock,  to  be  parcelled  out  by  Congress  into  free,  con 
venient,  and  independent  Governments,  as  the  wisdom  of  that  body  shall 
hereafter  direct" 

A  year  later,  since  Congress  had  failed  to  adopt  this  policy, 
Maryland  made  it  a  condition  ivithout  which  she  would  not  ratify 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.2  By  February,  1779,  every  other 
State  had  ratified.  Further  delay  was  in  many  ways  perilous 
to  the  new  Union;  and  other  States  charged  Maryland  bit 
terly  with  lack  of  patriotism.  Virginia,  in  particular,  insinu 
ated  repeatedly  that  the  western  lands  were  only  an  "  ostensible 
cause  "  for  her  delay.  With  clear-eyed  purpose,  however,  the 
little  State  held  out,  throwing  the  blame  for  delay  where  it  be 
longed,  —  on  Virginia  and  the  other  States  claiming  the  West. 
310.  Public  opinion  gradually  shifted  to  the  support  of  the 
view  so  gallantly  championed  by  Maryland ;  and  October  10, 
1780,  the  Continental  Congress  formally  pledged  the  Union  to  the 

1  The  Iroquois,  who  had  no  ownership,  had  ceded  it  to  England,  in  the  per 
son  of  the  Commander  of  the  English  forces  in  America  — who  happened  also 
to  be  just  then  governor  of  New  York. 

2  By  the  terms  of  the  Articles,  that  constitution  could  not  become  binding 
until  ratified  by  each  one  of  the  thirteen  States. 


>l.   Connecticut's  Western  Reserve 
B.    Virginia's  Military  Reserve 


THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  1783  —  STATE  CLAIMS  AND  CESSIONS 


§  311]  A  NATIONAL  DOMAIN  259 

new  policy.  A  Congressional  resolution  solemnly  urged  the 
States  to  cede  the  western  lands  to  the  central  government, 
to  be  disposed  of  "for  the  common  good  of  the  United  States" 
The  resolution  guaranteed  also  that  all  lands  so  ceded  would 
be  "formed  into  separate  republican  States,  which  shall  become 
members  of  the  federal  union  and  have  the  same  rights  of  free 
dom ,  sovereignty,  and  independence  as  the  other  States." 

This  completed  the  American  plan  of  colonization.  Previously,  the 
world  had  known  only  two  plans :  Greek  and  Phoenician  colonies  be 
came  free  by  separating  at  once  from  the  mother  cities  ;  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  century  colonies  of  European  countries  had  remained 
united  to  the  mother  countries,  but  in  a  condition  of  humiliating  depend 
ence.  For  the  United  States  Maryland  had  devised  a  new  plan  combin 
ing  permanent  union  with  freedom.  This  great  political  invention  was 
peculiarly  adapted  to  a  federal  union,  such  as  America  was  then  forming. 

311.  New  York  had  already  promised  to  give  up  her  west 
ern  claims,  and  now  Connecticut  promised  to  do  likewise.  In 
January,  1781,  Virginia's  promise  followed,  for  the  lands 
north  of  the  Ohio.  The  formal  deeds  of  cession  were  delayed 
by  long  negotiations  over  precise  terms,  but  the  general  result 
was  now  certain.  Maryland  had  won.  Accordingly  (March 
1,  1781),  she  ratified  the  Articles.  That  constitution  at  last 
went  into  operation,  —  and  the  new  confederacy  possessed  a 
"national  domain." 

Kentucky  remained  part  of  Virginia  until  admitted  into  the  Union  as 
a  State  in  1792  ;  and  Virginia  did  not  actually  cede  the  Northwest  until 
1784,  — retaining  then  the  "  Military  Reserve,"  a  triangular  tract  of  sev 
eral  million  acres  just  north  of  the  Ohio  (marked  B  on  the  map  opposite), 
wherewith  to  pay  her  soldiers.  Connecticut  completed  her  cession  in  1785, 
and  Massachusetts  made  hers  in  1786.  Connecticut  retained  3,250,000 
acres  south  of  Lake  Erie,  as  a  basis  for  a  public  school  fund.  This  dis 
trict  was  soon  settled  largely  by  New  Englanders,  and  was  long  known 
as  "The  Western  Reserve"  ;  but  in  1800,  when  Connecticut  had  sold  her 
property  in  the  lands,  she  granted  jurisdiction  over  the  settlers  to  the 
United  States.  North  Carolina  ceded  Tennessee  in  1790,  and  South 
Carolina  had  given  up  her  little  tract  three  years  earlier;  but  Georgia 
clung  to  her  claims  until  1802. 


260  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST  [§  312 

II.     ORGANIZATION   BY   THE   NATION 

312.  It  was  now  up  to  Congress  to  make  good  its  promise  in  the 
resolution  of  October,  1780  (§  310).     Accordingly,  when  Thomas 
Jefferson,  as  a  Virginia  delegate  in  Congress,  presented  to  that 
body  Virginia's  final  cession,  he  also  proposed  a  plan  of  govern 
ment  for  all  territory  "  ceded  or  to  be  ceded."     This  plan  was 
soon  enacted  into  law  and  is  commonly  known  as  the  Ordinance 
of  1784- 

Jefferson  supposed  that  the  States  would  complete  their  ces 
sions  promptly.  Accordingly,  the  Ordinance  of  1784  cut  up 
all  the  western  territory  into  proposed  States.  The  old  States 
were  to  be  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  meridian  passing 
through  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha.  West  of  that  line  there 
were  to  be  two  tiers  of  new  States  (map  opposite).  Each  State 
was  to  be  two  degrees  in  width  from  north  to  south  ;  and  the 
meridian  passing  through  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  was  to  divide 
the  eastern  from  the  western  tier.  To  ten  of  the  proposed 
States  the  plan  gave  peculiar  names,  —  Michigania,  Metropo- 
tamia,  Polypotamia,  Assenisipia,  and  so  ©n. 

As  in  all  our  later  organization  of  Territories,  certain  pro 
visions  were  to  be  made  a  matter  of  compact  between  each  new 
State  and  the  United  States.  Thus,  the  State  was  forever  to 
remain  part  of  the  United  States,  and  to  preserve  a  republican 
form  of  government ;  it  was  to  take  over  its  share  of  the  public 
debt,  and  not  to  tax  United  States  lands  within  its  borders, 
nor  to  tax  non-residents  more  heavily  than  its  own  citizens. 
A  remarkable  attempt  ivas  made  also  to  exclude  slavery  from  all 
the  Western  territory  after  the  year  1800 :  this  provision,  however, 
received  the  votes  of  only  six  States,  and  so  failed  of  adoption.1 

313.  In  1787,  the  Ordinance  of  1784  was  replaced  by  the  great 
Northwest  Ordinance.     During  the  three  years  which  had  passed 

1  Virginia  (in  spite  of  Jefferson)  and  South  Carolina  voted  No ;  North 
Carolina  was  "divided"  and  so  not  counted;  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and 
Georgia  were  absent.  Jefferson  stated  later  that,  but  for  the  sickness  of  a 
delegate  from  New  Jersey,  that  State  would  have  been  present  and  in  the 
affirmative ;  so  that  the  proposition  "  failed  for  want  of  one  vote." 


313] 


JEFFERSON'S   ORDINANCE   OF   1784 


261 


PROPOSED  DIVISION 

0¥  WESTERN  LANDS 

"CEDED  OR  TO  BE  CEDED" 
According  to  Ordinance  of  1784 


ky        PNNSYLVANIA 


St.Louis7,°Calfokia 
O      Kaskask 


SOUTH    \ 
CAROLINA 


Longitude  «Ri     West  from  Greenwich 


262 


THE   OLD  NORTHWEST 


[§  313 


since  the  adoption  of  the  first  ordinance,  there  had  been  no 
district  in  the  ceded  territory  populous  enough  to  organize 
under  the  law.  Meantime,  some  parts  of  the  East  had  begun 
to  look  jealously  at  the  prospect  of  so  many  new  States,  to 
outvote  the  Atlantic  section  in  Congress.  Congress,  therefore, 
appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  new  plan  of  organization, 

with  view  particularly  to 
reducing  the  number  of 
future  States. 

There  was  also  another 
thread  to  the  story.  In 
1786  a  number  of  New 
England  Revolutionary 
soldiers  had  organized  a 
"  company  of  associates,'7 
to  establish  themselves  in 
new  homes  on  the  Ohio. 
Early  in  1787  this  Ohio 
Company  sent  the  shrewd 
Manasseh  Cutler  (one  of 
their  directors)  to  buy  a 
large  tract  of  western  land 
from  Congress.  Cutler 
found  the  proposed  Terri 
torial  ordinance  under  dis 
cussion.  Negotiations  for 
the  land  deal  and  for  the 

new  Territorial  law  (under  which  the  settlers  would  have  to 
place  themselves)  became  intermingled.  Cutler  proved  an 
adroit  lobbyist.1  On  one  occasion  he  had  to  frighten  the 
hesitating  Congress  into  action  by  pretending  to  take  leave ; 
but  finally  both  measures  were  passed.  The  ordinance,  with  a 
number  of  new  provisions  satisfactory  to  the  New  Englanders, 


MANASSEH  CUTLER.  From  a  woodcut  in 
Harper's  Magazine  for  September,  1885, 
illustrating  an  article  on  early  Ohio 
settlement. 


1  Hart's  Source  Book,  169-172,  has  an  interesting  selection  from  Cutler's 
Journal. 


§  313]  NORTHWEST  ORDINANCE   OF   1787  263 

became  law  on  July  13;  and  a  few  days  later  the  land  sale 
was  completed. 

The  Ohio  Company  bought  for  itself  1,500,000  acres,  at  "two-thirds  of 
a  dollar  an  acre."  Payment  was  accepted,  however,  in  depreciated  "  cer 
tificates"  with  which  Congress  had  paid  the  Revolutionary  soldiers,  so 
that  the  real  cost  was  only  eight  or  nine  cents.  Unhappily,  the  purchase 
was  carried  through  by  connecting  it  with  a  "job."  Influential  members 
of  Congress,  as  the  price  of  their  support,  induced  Cutler  to  take,  at  this 
rate,  not  merely  the  million  and  a  half  acres  which  he  wanted,  but  also 
three  and  a  half  million  more,  which  were  afterward  privately  transferred 
to  another  "  company  "  composed  of  these  congressmen  and  their  friends. 

The  "  Northwest  Ordinance  " l  (so-called  because,  unlike  its 
predecessor,  it  applied  only  to  the  territory  north  of  the  Ohio) 
has  been  styled  second  in  importance  only  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  the  Constitution.  Under  it,  the  new 
type  of  American  "  colony  "  ("  territory  ")  was  first  actually 
established.  Not  less  than  three,  nor  more  than  five  states 
were  to  be  formed  from  the  region,  but,  until  further  Con 
gressional  action,  the  whole  district  was  to  be  one  unit.  Three 
stages  of  government  were  provided. 

(1)  Until  the  district  should  contain  five  thousand  free  male 
inhabitants,  there  was  no  self-government.     Congress  a  appointed 
a  "  governor  "  and  three  "  judges."     The  governor  created  and 
filled   all   local   offices ;    and    governor   and   judges   together 
selected  laws  suitable  for  Territorial  needs  from  the  codes  of 
older  States,  —  subject,  however,  to  the  veto  of  Congress. 

(2)  In  the  second  stage  Congress  still  appointed  the  gov 
ernor  ;  but  there  was  now  to  be  a  two-House  legislature,  —  a 
House  of  Representatives  elected  by  the  people,  and  a  Legisla 
tive  Council  of  five  men  selected  by  Congress  from  ten  nomi- 

1  Source  Book,  No.  149,  6.    The  class  should  study  the  document  at  least 
far  enough  to  verify  the  statements  made  in  the  text  regarding  it.    The  prin 
ciples  of  this  law  became  so  fixed  during  the  next  century  that  students  are  in 
danger  of  thinking  of  the  Ordinance  as  part  of  the  Constitution. 

2  This  law  was  passed,  of  course,  by  the  Continental  Congress.    After  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  next  year,  many  powers  here  given  to  Con 
gress  were  transferred  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 


264  NORTHWEST  ORDINANCE   OF   1787  [§  313 

nated  by  the  Territorial  lower  House.  This  legislature  was  to 
send  a  Territorial  delegate  to  Congress,  with  right  to  debate 
but  not  to  vote.  The  appointed  governor  had  an  absolute  veto 
upon  all  acts  of  the  legislature  and  controlled  its  sittings,  call 
ing  and  dissolving  sessions  at  will.  Thus,  in  this  stage,  the 
inhabitants  had  about  the  same  amount  of  self-government  as 
in  a  royal  province  before  the  Revolution.1  Political  rights 
were  based  upon  a  graded  ownership  of  land  :  to  vote  for  a 
Representative,  one  must  have  a  freehold  of  fifty  acres ;  to 
be  eligible  for  the  lower  House,  two  hundred  acres ;  for 
the  upper  House,  five  hundred ;  and  for  the  governorship,  a 
thousand. 

(3)  The  third  stage  was  provided  for  in  the  following  words  : 
"Whenever  any  of  the  said  States  shall  have  sixty  thousand 
free  inhabitants,  such  State  shall  be  admitted,  by  its  delegates, 
into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  original  States  in  all  respects  ivhatever,  and  shall  be 
at  liberty  to  form  a  permanent  constitution  and  State  govern 
ment." 

"And,  for  extending  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty  .  .  .  [and]  to  ...  establish  those  prin 
ciples  as  the  basis  of  all  ...  governments  which  forever  here 
after  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  territory/'  six  lengthy 
articles  were  declared  to  be  "  articles  of  compact  between  the 
original  States  and  the  people  ...  in  the  said  Territory  .  .  . 
forever  [to~]  remain  unalterable,  unless  by  common  consent."  To 
similar  provisions  in  the  previous  ordinance  this  noble  "bill 
of  rights  "  now  added  freedom  of  religion,  habeas  corpus  privi 
leges,  exemption  from  cruel  or  unusual  punishments,  and  jury 
trial.  Provision  was  made  for  the  equal  division  of  estates 
(even  of  landed  property 2)  among  the  heirs  of  people  who  left 

1  Compare  with  Massachusetts  under  her  second  charter. 

2  In  the  older  States,  primogeniture  was  still  the  rule,  or  had  been  so  until 
just  before.    Even  in  New  England,  the  oldest  son  still  inherited  a  double 
share.    The  principle  of  equal  division  of  landed  property  had  a  special  demo 
cratic  value  because  of  the  connection  between  land  and  political  power. 


314] 


EXCLUSION   OF  SLAVERY 


265 


no  wills.  The  Third  Article  declared  that  "schools  and  the 
means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged" ;  and  the  great 
Sixth  Article  prohibited  slavery,  with  a  provision,  however,  for 
the  return  of  fugitive  slaves  escaping  into  the  Northwest  from 
other  States. 

The  Northwest  Ordinance  did  not  make  specific  provision  for  public 
support  of  education,  as  many  people  suppose.  That  was  done  by  two 
other  ordinances  of  the  Continental  Congress,  —  one  earlier,  one  just 
later,  —  which  made  smooth  the  way  for  western  settlement  and  pro 
foundly  influenced  its  character  (§§  314,  315). 

314.  In  1785,  Congress  had  passed  an  ordinance  (originating 
with  Jefferson)  (1)  providing  for  a  rectangular  land  survey  by 
the  government,  in  advance  of  settlement;  (2)  establishing  land 
offices  for  sale  of 
public  lands  at  low 
prices  and  in  small 
lots ;  and  (3)  giving 
one  thirty-sixth  of 
the  national  domain 
(in  properly  distrib 
uted  tracts)  to  the 
new  States,  for  the 
support  of  public 
schools.  These  three 
principles  have  ever 
since  remained  fun 
damental  in  western 
development. 


For  a  rectangular  sur 
vey,  it  was  necessary 
first  to  fix  a  north-and- 
south  and  an  east-and- 


UNITED  STATES  SURVEY  :   DIAGRAM  A.    BASES 
AND  MERIDIANS  FOR  THE  OLD  NORTHWEST. 


west  line  ("  Prime  Meridian  "  and  "  Base  Line  ") .  The  ordinance  named 
two  such  lines ;  and  as  the  survey  proceeded,  others  were  located. 
Diagram  A  indicates  those  actually  used  for  the  Northwest  Territory. 
Oregon  lands  are  surveyed  from  a  *'  Twenty-fourth  Prime  Meridian." 


266 


JEFFERSON'S  SURVEY  ORDINANCE 


;§314 


Beginning  at  the  intersection  of  a  Prime  Meridian  and  a  Base,  the 
surveyors  run  out  perpendiculars  from  each  line  at  six-mile  intervals. 
The  intersections  of  the  two  sets  of  perpendiculars  mark  off  the  domain 
into  squares,  called  townships,  each  containing  thirty-six  square  miles. 
The  first  row  of  squares  west  of  the  Prime  Meridian  is  called  Eange  One  ; 
the  second  row,  Range  Two ;  etc.  Any  square  in  the  row  just  north  of  the 
Base  is  called  Town  One  ;  any  one  in  the  second  row,  Town  Two.  Thus 
to  name  both  Town  and  Range  is  to  locate  any  township  beyond  dispute. 

Each  township  is  subdivided  into  thirty-six  smaller  squares, 
called  sections,  each  one  mile  square,  numbered  from  one  to 
thirty-six,,  beginning  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  township 


6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

18 

17 

a 

15 

14 

13 

16 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

N  W} 
NWj 

X 

N  EJ- 

S;]    N  W± 

Si 

DIAGRAM  B. 


A  TOWNSHIP  SUBDIVIDED  INTO 
SECTIONS. 


DIAGRAM  C.    A  SEC 
TION  SUBDIVIDED. 


(Diagram  B).  Subsequent  legislation  provided  for  more  minute 
divisions,  cutting  the  sections  into  halves  (320  acres),  quarters 
(160  acres),  and  quarters  of  quarter  sections  ("  forties  ").  Each 
such  subdivision  is  named  by  its  location  (Diagrams  B  and  C).1 
It  became  possible  now  for  a  pioneer  to  locate  land  without  the 
costly  aid  of  a  private  survey.2 

1  EXERCISE.  —  Draw  C  with  other  distribution  of  subdivisions,  naming  each 
one.    Name  x  in  Diagram  C. 

2  Previous  to  this  law  of  1785,  surveys  in  America  had  been  irregular, 
overlapping  one  another  in  places,  and  in  other  places  leaving  large  fractions 


§  315]        THE   LAND   GRANT  TO  THE  SCHOOLS          267 

In  indirect  ways,  too,  this  method  of  survey  has  affected  Western  life. 
County  Boards  run  roads  on  the  section  lines,  and,  when  necessary,  on 
the  geometric  subdividing  lines.  The  counties,  made  up  of  square  town 
ships,  take  on  a  more  rectangular  form,  as  compared  with  those  in  older 
States  ;  and  the  Western  States  themselves  tend  to  a  similar  form.1 

An  attempt  to  insert  a  provision  in  the  Ordinance  of  1785  to 
set  aside  section  15  of  each,  township  for  the  maintenance  of 
religion  was  voted  down ;  but  each  section  16  was  granted  to  the 
future  communities  for  the  support  of  common  schools.  This 
provision  preceded  the  vague  phrase  in  the  Ordinance  of  '87  re 
garding  encouragement  to  education ;  and  it  ranks  in  importance 
with  the  exclusion  of  slavery  by  that  document. 

The  intention  was  to  have  each  township  use  the  proceeds  from  its  sec 
tion  16  for  its  own  schools.  Happily,  it  was  soon  decided  to  give  the 
sale  of  school  lands  to  State  officials,  rather  than  to  local  officers,  and  to 
turn  all  proceeds  into  &  permanent  State  fund,  of  which  only  the  interest 
is  divided  each  year  among  various  localities' of  the  State,  usually  in  pro 
portion  to  their  school  attendance.  The  States  admitted  since  1842  have 
received  also  section  36  of  each  township  for  school  purposes,  or  one 
eighteenth  of  the  land  within  their  limits,  besides  lavish  grants  for  in 
ternal  improvements. 

315.  The  other  great  act  of  the  dying  Continental  Congress 
which  deserves  grateful  remembrance  was  passed  a  few  days  after 
the  Northwest  Ordinance.  Cutler  was  not  content  even  with  the 
generous  terms  he  had  secured  for  the  Ohio  Company ;  and 
he  obtained  a  further  free  grant  of  forty-six  thousand  acres  "  of 
good  land  "  in  the  proposed  Territory  "  for  the  support  of  an 
institution  of  higher  learning"  —  the  land  to  be  located,  and 

unincorporated  in  any  "  description."  The  points  of  beginning,  too,  had  been 
arbitrarily  chosen,  and,  if  once  lost,  they  were  hard  to  determine  again.  At 
almost  the  date  of  this  ordinance,  the  records  of  Jefferson  County  in  Kentucky 
describe  the  land  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  grandfather  as  located  on  a  fork  of 
the  Long  Run,  beginning  about  two  miles  up  from  the  mouth  of  the  fork,  "  at 
a  Sugar  Tree  standing  in  the  side  of  the  same  marked  S  D  B  and  extending 
thence  East  300  poles  to  a  Poplar  and  Sugar  Tree  North  213 £  poles  to  a 
Beech  and  Dogwood  West  300  poles  to  a  White  Oak  and  Hickory  South  213£ 
poles  to  the  Beginning."  The  older  portions  of  the  country  still  keep  these 
cumbersome  and  imperfect  descriptions. 

1  Note  any  map  of  the  United  States,  as  after  p.  604. 


268 


THE   OLD  NORTHWEST 


[§316 


funds  used,  "  as  the  future  legislature  of  the  proposed  settle 
ment  may  direct."  Here  begins  the  policy  of  national  land  grants 
to  "  State  universities."  When  the  Territory  of  Indiana  was  set 
off  on  the  West,  a  like  grant  was  made  for  it ;  and  so  on,  for 
each  new  Territory  since.  After  1873,  such  grants  to  new 
Territories  were  doubled  in  amount. 


III.     EARLY   SETTLEMENT 

316.    The  Ohio  Company  pressed  its  preparations  eagerly,  and 

advertised  the  riches  of  the  West  extravagantly,  to  sell  its 
lands  ;  and  in  the  winter  of  1787-1788,  fifty  New  Englanders 
under  General  Putnam  made  the  western  journey  as  far  as  Fort 


CAMPUS  MARTIUS,  MARIETTA,  1791,  as  reconstructed  in  The  American 
Pioneer  in  1842.  The  building  inside  this  ten-foot  palisade  was  180  feet 
square.  The  projecting  block  houses  at  the  corners  were  each  20  feet 
square  with  an  overhanging  bullet-proof  upper  story  24  feet  square, 
crowned  by  a  steepled  sentry  house.  Note  the  sharpened  stakes  project 
ing  from  the  building,  and  the  loop  holes  in  the  palisade. 

Pitt  (Pittsburg).  Here  they  built  a  huge  boat,  with  sides  pro 
tected  by  bullet-proof  t  bulwarks,  naming  it  the  Mayflower  in 
memory  of  their  forefathers'  migration  to  a  new  world.  As 
soon  as  the  ice  broke  up,  they  floated  down  the  Ohio  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  and  there  founded  Marietta. 


ADVANCE 

OF 
POPULATION 


BOUNDS  OF  SETTLED  AREA  IN  1774' 
.  FRONTIER  LINE  1790 
FRONTIER  LINE  1820 


§  316]  EARLY    SETTLEMENT    '  269 

Various  hamlets  soon  clustered  about  this  first  settlement, 
—  each,  as  a  rule,  centered  about  a  mill,  —  and  within  two 
years  the  colony  contained  a  thousand  people.  Thousands 
more  floated  past  Marietta  during  its  first  season,  most  of  them 
bound  for  Kentucky,  but  many  to  establish  themselves  at  points 
in  the  Northwest. 

For  many  years,  migration  continued  to  be  by  wagon  to 
Pittsburg  or  Wheeling,  and  thence  by  water  on  hundred-foot 
rafts  carrying  cattle  and  small  houses,  or  on  somewhat  more 
manageable  flatboats  seventy  feet  long  perhaps.  Such  vehicles 
were  steered  from  rocks  and  sand  bars  by  long  "sweeps" 
(cut  on  p.  255).  They  floated  lazily  with  the  current  by  day, 
and  tied  up  at  the  bank  at  night.  Occasionally,  long  narrow 
keel  boats  were  used ;  and  these  were  especially  convenient, 
because,  by  the  brawny  arms  of  seven  or  eight  men,  they  could 
be  poled  up  tributary  streams,  to  choice  points  for  settlement. 

For  a  time,  settlement  was  hampered  by  frequent  Indian 
forays.  The  wars  that  followed,  however,  were  managed  by 
the  Federal  government,  with  regiments  of  "  regulars."  In 
1790  and  1791,  expeditions  against  the  Indians  were  repulsed 
disastrously  —  the  second  costing  more  than  half  the  American 
force.  But  in  1794  General  Wayne  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat 
upon  the  natives ;  and,  the  same  year,  a  new  treaty  with  Eng 
land  secured  to  the  United  States  actual  possession  of  the 
Northwest  posts  (§  290).  This  deprived  the  Indians  of  all 
hope  of  English  support,1  and  they  ceased  to  molest  settlement 
seriously  until  just  before  the  War  of  1812. 


1  American  writers  used  to  assume  that  the  early  Indian  forays  were  directly 
fomented  by  the  English  officials  in  the  Northwest  posts.  No  doubt  the  pres 
ence  of  English  troops  there  did  have  some  effect  upon  Indian  hopes.  But 
after  a  careful  examination  of  recently  opened  sources  of  information,  Profes 
sor  Andrew  McLaughlin  writes:  —  "I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  state  .  .  .  that 
England  and  her  ministers  can  be  absolutely  acquitted  of  the  charge  that 
they  desired  to  foment  war  in  the  West.  .  .  .  There  was  never  a  time  when 
the  orders  of  the  home  government  did  not  explicitly  direct  that  war  was  to 
be  deprecated,  and  that  the  Indians  were  to  be  encouraged  to  keep  the  peace." 
—  Report  of  American  Historical  Association  for  1894,  435  ff . 


270  '  THE   OLD  NORTHWEST  [§  317 

The  second  stage  of  territorial  government,  with  a  representa 
tive  legislature,  did  not  begin  until  1799.  The  next  year  Con 
gress  divided  the  district  into  two  "Territories."  In  1802 
the  eastern  Territory  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  the  State 
of  Ohio.  The  western  district  became  the  Territory  of  Indiana. 

317.  Summary:  the  Meaning  of  the  West.  The  early  Western 
settlements,  we  have  seen,  reproduced  the  simplicity  of  the  first  settle 
ments  on  the  Atlantic  coast  a  century  and  a  half  before;  and  the  prog 
ress  of  the  new  communities  was  influenced  greatly  by  the  experience  of 
the  older  ones.  But  the  Western  societies  did  not  merely  copy  Eastern 
development.  They  did  not  begin  just  where  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
settlements  did.  They  started  on  a  different  plane  and  with  greater  mo 
mentum.  The  Atlantic  frontier  had  to  work  upon  European  germs. 
Moving  westward,  each  new  frontier  was  more  and  more  American,  at 
the  start;  and  soon  the  older  communities  were  reacted  upon  wholesomely 
by  the  simplicity  and  democracy  of  the  West.  These  considerations 
give  the  key  to  the  meaning  of  the  West  in  American  history.  Says 
Frederic  G.  Turner :  — 

"American  social  development  has  been  continually  beginning  over 
again  on  the  frontier.  This  perennial  rebirth,  this  fluidity  of  American 
life,  this  expansion  westward  with  its  new  opportunities,  this  continuous 
touch  with  the  simplicity  of  primitive  society,  furnish  the  forces  dominat 
ing  American  character.  .  .  .  The  frontier  is  the  line  of  most  rapid  and 
effective  Americanization."  (American  Historical  Association  Eeport 
for  1893.Y 

1  Dr.  Turner  is  the  first  true  interpreter  of  the  frontier  in  our  history. 
But  every  student  should  read  also  Woodrow  Wilson's  "  Course  of  American 
History"  in  his  volume  Mere  Literature,  and  Samuel  Crothers'  "Land  of  the 
Large  and  Charitable  Air  "  in  The  Pardoner's  Wallet. 


PART  V 

MAKING  THE  CONSTITUTION 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE   "LEAGUE  OF  FRIENDSHIP" 

318.  THE  motion  in  Congress  for  Independence,  on  June  7. 
1776  (§  263),  contained  also  a  resolution  that  a  "  plan  of  con 
federation  "  be  prepared  and  submitted  to  the  States.     A  com 
mittee  was  appointed  at  once  to  draw  up  a  plan.     Not  till 
November,  1777,  however,  did  Congress  adopt  the  "  Articles  of 
Confederation  " ;  and  ratification  by  the  States  was  not  secured 
until  1781  (§  311),  when  the  war  was  virtually  over.    From  '76 
to  '81,  Congress  exercised  the  powers  of  a  central  government. 
The  States  had  not  expressly  authorized  it  to  do  so,  but  they 
acquiesced,  informally,  because  of  the  supreme  necessity. 

319.  During  those  years  were  the  States  one  nation  or  thirteen  ? 
No  one  at  the  time  thought  the  Declaration  of  Independence  bind 
ing  upon  any  State  because  of  the  action  at  Philadelphia,  but  only 
because  of  the  instructions  or  ratification  by  the  State  itself. 
Congress  had  not  even  advised  the  States  on  Independence.    It 
waited  for  the  States  to  instruct  their  delegates.     Then  the 
vote  was  taken  by  States,  and  the  delegates  of  no  State  voted 
for  the  Declaration  until  authorized  by  their  own  State  Assembly. 
The  action  at  Philadelphia  on  July  4,  1776,  amounted  to  a  joint 
announcement,  in  order,  in  Franklin's  phrase,  that  they  might 
all  "  hang  together,"  so  as  not  to  "  hang  separately."     Twenty 
years  afterward,  in  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  Justice  Chase  said  :  — 

271 


272  THE   OLD   CONFEDERATION  [§  320 

u  I  regard  this  [the  Declaration  of  July  4,  1776]  a  declaration  not  that 
the  united  colonies  in  a  collective  capacity  were  independent  States,  but 
that  each  of  them  was  a  sovereign  and  independent  State  "  (3  Dallas,  224). 

The  final  paragraph  of  the  Declaration  refers  to  "  the  authority 
of  the  good  people  of  these  colonies  " ;  and,  in  later  times,  that 
one  phrase  has  been  tortured  into  proof  that  the  Declaration 
was  the  act  of  one  people,  —  a  single  nation.  Such  reasoning 
ignores  three  longer  phrases  in  the  same  paragraph  which 
teach  more  emphatically  the  opposite  doctrine,  —  of  thirteen 
peoples.  The  signed  copy,  too,  was  headed  "  The  unanimous 
Declaration  of  the  thirteen  United  States." 

It  would  be  unwise,  however,  to  draw  conclusions  from  the 
wording  of  this  document  alone,  even  were  that  wording  in 
agreement  throughout.  The  men  of  ;76  had  not  yet  learned  to 
use  the  terms,  independence,  sovereign,  state,  nation,  with  the 
nice  precision  that  belongs  to  later  days.  Moreover,  they  were 
thinking  just  then  of  the  relations  of  the  States  to  England, 
not  to  one  another.  But  other  language  —  of  even  the  most  accu 
rate  thinkers  and  most  earnest  "  unionists  "  — proves  beyond 
doubt  that  men  did  not  think  of  the  thirteen  States  as  one  nation  in 
1776. 

Hamilton  wrote,  in  1784:  "By  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of 
July  4,  1776,  acceded  to  by  our  Convention  of  the  ninth,  the  late  colony  of 
New  York  became  an  independent  State"  (Works,  Lodge  ed.,  Ill,  470). 
The  Pennsylvania  Convention  in  July,  1776,  approved  the  "cogent  rea 
sons  "  given  "by  the  honorable  Continental  Congress  for  declaring  this, 
as  well  as  the  other  United  States  of  America  free  and  independent,"  and 
asserted  that  ' '  we  will  .  .  .  maintain  the  freedom  and  independency  of 
this  and  the  other  United  States."  So,  too,  Connecticut  (October,  1776), 
when  adopting  her  old  charter  for  a  constitution,  declared,  "  This  Repub 
lic  [viz.,  Connecticut]  is  ...  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State." 

320.  More  than  half  a  century  later  there  dawned  a  long 
struggle  —  finally  to  be  settled  by  the  sword  —  between  Union 
and  Disunion.  Meantime  the  early  principle  of  Union  had  been 
growing  stronger  and  more  pervasive,  until  it  had  become 
the  truth  most  essential  to  the  political  life  of  our  people.  The 


§  321]  ONE  NATION  OR   THIRTEEN  ?  273 

progressive  side,  in  the  long  struggle  that  followed,  took  its 
stand  upon  this  truth;  and,  with  a  common  instinct  of  our 
people,  they  tried  to  date  that  truth  back  further  than  it  really 
belonged,  so  as  to  claim  for  it  the  sanction  of  age.1  The 
splendid  names  of  Story  and  Lincoln  became  connected  with 
the  mistaken  doctrine  that  the  Union  was  older  than  the  States. 
To  the  North,  this  blunder  finally  became  identified  with  patri 
otism  ;  and  for  two  generations  after  the  Civil  War  it  was  taught 
in  textbooks. 

The  present  generation  has  not  known  the  terrible  danger  of 
disunion,  and  it  can  look  more  calmly  at  the  theories.  Recent 
scholars  reject  the  patriotic  fiction  of  the  antiquity  of  the  Union 
in  its  extreme  form.  We  can  all  see  now  that  the  real  basis 
for  Lincoln's  stand  was  not  any  theory  about  the  past,  but  the 
need  and  will  of  a  living  people. 

321.  Still  we  must  not  assert  dogmatically  that  the  States 
were  older  than  the  Union  —  and  leave  the  delicate  question  so. 
When  we  look  at  the  actions  of  the  time  as  well  as  at  its  words, 
we  see  that  States  and  Union  grew  up  together.  True,  the  States 
took  form  fastest  and  first :  but,  from  the  beginning,  there 
was  a  general  expectation  that  they  would  soon  be  united. 
Except  for  some  such  expectation,  they  would  hardly  have  been 
born  at  all :  and  except  for  the  creation  of  a  union,  they  cer 
tainly  could  not  have  lived.  The  Union  did  not  create  the 
States  ;  but  it  did  preserve  them. 

Just  after  July  4,  1776,  there  was  nothing  but  common  sense 
to  keep  any  State  from  acting  as  an  independent  nation.  Some 
of  them  did  act  so,  even  in  foreign  relations.  Virginia  nego 
tiated  with  Spain  about  the  protection  of  their  common  trading 
interests  in  the  West ;  and  she  even  thought  it  necessary  for 
her  legislature  to  confirm  the  treaty  made  by  Congress  with 

1  Reformers  of  the  English-speaking  race  have  ever  tried  to  persuade  them 
selves  that  they  were  only  trying  to  get  back  to  the  "good  old  days  of  King 
Edward."  Progress  tries  to  cloak  itself  in  some  legal  fiction  to  the  effect 
that  it  is  merely  restoration.  The  student  of  English  history  will  be  familiar 
with  many  illustrations. 


274  THE   CRITICAL  PERIOD,    1783-1788  [§  322 

France  in  1778.  But,  on  the  whole,  with  great  good  sense, 
the  States  allowed  their  possible  independence  to  lapse  by  disuse. 
As  a  rule,  Congress  managed  the  war  and  all  foreign  relations ; 
and  this  practice  was  soon  made  the  constitutional  theory  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation. 

322.  When  the  war  for  Independence  closed,  the  real  dangers  to 
American  union   became    plainer.    The   years   1783-1788  were  "The 
Critical  Period. "    The  many  evils  of  those  perilous  years  come  under 
three  heads :    (i)  the  weakness  of  the  Central  Government;  (2)  conflicts 
between  the  States;  and  (3)  anarchy  within  individual  States. 

323.  The  authority  of  Congress  was  really  less  after  1781  than 
before.     The  war  was  practically  over,  and  the  States  no  longer 
felt  it  necessary  to  obey  a  central  power.     More  and  more,  the 
wish  for  nationality  was  lost  in  a  narrow  State  patriotism.     In 
the  generous  glow  of  the  first  years  of  revolution,  Patrick  Henry 
had  once  exclaimed:  "I  am  no  longer -a  Virginian:  I  am  an 
American."     But  about  1781  the  language  of  State  sovereignty 
became  almost  universal ;  and  in  the  Virginia  Assembly,  Richard 
Henry  Lee  spoke  of  Congress  as  "  a  foreign  power." 

In  internal  affairs  Congress  had  never  held  real  power 
(§  281),  and  now  its  weakness  became  notorious  and  shameful. 
Able  and  ambitious  men  left  it  for  places  in  State  legislatures. 
In  1785  and  1786,  for  more  than  half  its  sessions,  not  enough 
members  to  do  business  could  be  got  together. 

The  treaty  of  1783  had  to  be  ratified  within  six  months  of  its  signing  at 
Paris ;  but  three  months  expired  before  the  necessary  nine  States  were 
represented  in  Congress.  Twenty  delegates,  representing  only  seven 
States,  were  present  when  Washington  resigned  command  of  the  army. 
Rarely  afterward  were  eleven  States  represented ;  and  often  three  men 
(of  the  twenty  or  twenty-five  present)  could  defeat  any  important 
measure,  —  since  such  measures  required  the  assent  of  nine  States. 

324.  Two  weaknesses  of  Congress  call  for  special  attention: 
(1)  It  could  not  negotiate  with  foreign  powers  to  advantage ; 
and  (2)  it  could  not  raise  funds  for  the  bare  necessities  of  gov 
ernment  at  home. 

a.   Congress  had  proven  unable  to  compel  the  States  to  re- 


§  325]  WEAKNESS  OF  CONGRESS  275 

speet  even  the  treaty  of  peace  with  England  (§  291).  We  wished 
a  further  commercial  treaty,  but  the  irritated  English  ministry 
asked  whether  they  were  to  deal  with  one  State  or  with  thirteen. 
Other  countries,  too,  cared  little  to  spend  effort  on  negotiations 
that  promised  to  be  waste  paper. 

b.  Congress  was  bankrupt.  For  a  time  it  paid  interest  on  the 
$6,000,000  it  had  borrowed  from  France,  but  only  by  borrow 
ing  $2,000,000  more  from  Holland ;  and  there  came  a  period 
when  it  was  impossible  for  Yankee  ingenuity  to  wheedle  more 
money  from  friendly  Frenchman  or  Dutchman.  At  home,  Con 
gress  had  made  no  pretense  of  paying  even  interest.  Inter 
est-bearing  "  certificates,"  issued  by  Congress  to  pay  off  the 
army,  passed  by  1788  at  twelve  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  the 
$240,000,000  of  paper  currency  was  practically  repudiated. 

Congress  could  get  money  only  by  calling  upon  the  States  for 
contributions.  In  1781,  while  the  war  was  still  going  on,  Con 
gress  called  for  $5,000,000.  Less  than  a  tenth  was  paid. 
Some  States  ignored  the  call,  and  New  Jersey  defied  it.  Dur 
ing  the  six  years  1783-1788  (after  the  war),  Congress  made 
requisitions  amounting  to  $6,000,000;  but  less  than  $1,000,000 
was  ever  paid. 

This  shame  cannot  be  excused  on  any  plea  of  poverty.  The 
war  had  demoralized  industry ;  but  after  all,  the  main  diffi 
culty  was  the  desire  of  each  State  to  shift  its  burden  upon  a 
neighbor.  Says  Francis  A.  Walker  (Making  of  the  Nation, 
9):- 

"Our  fathers  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  were  not  an  impoverished 
people.  They  were  able  to  give  all  that  was  demanded  of  them.  It  chiefly 
was  a  bad  political  mechanism  which  set  every  man  and  every  State  to 
evading  obligations.  .  .  .  Under  a  thoroughly  false  system,  such  as  this 
was,  it  is  amazing  how  much  meanness  and  selfishness  will  come  ow£."  x 

325.  The  second  great  evil  of  the  period  was  strife  between  the 
States.  A  wise  provision  of  the  Articles  tried  to  make  Congress 
the  arbiter  in  disputes  between  States ;  but  bitter  jealousies 

1  This  judgment  is  proved  correct  by  the  fact  that  with  a  change  of  politi 
cal  machinery  these  evils  vanished  as  by  magic. 


276  THE   CRITICAL  PERIOD,    1783-1788  [§  326 

made  this  provision  a  dead  letter.  Each  State  had  its  line  of 
custom  houses  against  all  the  others,  with  all  sorts  of  discrimina 
tions',  fruitful  of  discord.  Connecticut  taxed  goods  from  Massa 
chusetts  more  than  the  same  articles  from  England,  —  in  hope 
of  drawing  away  British  trade  from  the  older  colony ;  and,  on 
another  frontier,  she  waged  a  small  war  with  Pennsylvania  over 
the  ownership  of  the  Wyoming  valley,  while  she  seemed  on  the 
verge  of  war,  for  similar  reasons,  with  New  York  and  New 
Hampshire.  New  York  taxed  ruinously  the  garden  produce  of 
the  New  Jersey  farmers,  who  supplied  her  and  who  had  no 
other  market ;  and  New  Jersey  retaliated  with  a  confiscatory 
tax  of  a  thousand  dollars  upon  a  spot  of  sandy  coast  which 
New  York  had  bought  from  her  for  the  site  of  a  lighthouse. 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  coming  to  blows  over  the  navi 
gation  of  the  Savannah.  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Vermont,  and 
Maine  were  all  demanding  independence  of  the  older  States  of 
which  they  were  still  legally  a  part.  In  all  ages  the  two  fruitful 
causes  of  war  between  neighboring  nations  have  been  disputes 
over  trade  and  over  boundaries;  and  just  such  disputes  were 
now  threatening  to  turn  the  Atlantic  coast  into  a  stage  for 
petty  bloody  wars. 

326.  The  third  great  evil  was  anarchy  inside  the  States.  The 
long  struggle  against  England's  control  led  some  intelligent 
patriots,  like  Samuel  Adams  and  Richard  Henry  Lee,  to  object 
to  any  real  control  over  the  new  States,  even  by  Congress; 
and  it  made  many  ignorant  men  hostile  to  any  government, 
Central  or  State.  For  years,  even  before  open  war,  they  had 
associated  service  to  liberty  with  antisocial  acts  —  boycotts, 
breaking  up  courts,  terrorizing  officers  of  the  law.  Many  of 
them  had  won  easy  reputation  as  patriots  by  refusing  to  pay 
honest  debts  due  in  England  ;  and  they  now  felt  it  a  hardship 
to  pay  debts  to  their  neighbors.  Demagogues  declaimed,  to 
applauding  crowds,  that  all  debts  ought  to  be  wiped  out 
(Source  Book,  No.  151,  b,  (2)).  Wild  theories  as  to  common 
ownership  of  property  were  in  the  air. 

A  rude  awakening  all  this  proved  to  the  patriots  who  had 


§  327]  STRIFE  AND  ANARCHY  277 

expected  a  golden  age.  "  Good  God  !  "  exclaimed  Washing 
ton,  of  such  disorders  ;  "  Who  but  a  Tory  could  have  foreseen, 
or  a  Briton  predicted,  them  ?  "  And  again,  in  momentary 
despair,  he  declared  that  such  commotions  "  exhibit  a  melan 
choly  proof  .  .  .  that  mankind,  when  left  to  themselves,  are 
unfit  for  their  own  government"  (Source  Book,  No.  151,  6). 
The  worst  of  it  was,  too,  that  these  semicriminal  forces  of 
lawlessness  and  confiscation  were  reinforced  by  the  bitter  dis 
content  of  multitudes  of  well-meaning  men  who  were  suffering 
real  hardships.  Many  an  old  soldier  who  had  •  lost  his  home 
by  mortgage  foreclosure,  or  who  was  in  danger  of  doing  so, 
felt  that  the  loss  was  due  to  his  having  received  insufficient 
pay  in  worthless  paper  money,  while  the  law  of  the  time 
drained  his  slender  resources  by  extortionate  court  fees,  and 
threatened  to  condemn  him  to  hopeless  imprisonment  for  such 
undeserved  debt.1 

327.  The  most  widespread  manifestation  of  this  wild  spirit 
was  the  fiat  money  craze  that  swept  over  half  the  States  and 
threatened  all  the  others,  despite  the  recent  grievous  ex 
perience  with  such  currency.2  In  New  Hampshire  an  armed 
mob  besieged  the  legislature  to  obtain  such  relief.  The 
Rhode  Island  experience  was  the  most  serious,  but  it  also 
suggested  a  remedy  by  recourse  to  the  courts. 

Paper  money  was  the  issue  in  that  State  in  the  election  of 
the  legislature  in  1785.  The  "  cheap  money "  party  won. 
Creditors  fled,  to  escape  accepting  the  new  "legal  tender" 
for  old  loans  of  good  money,  and  storekeepers  closed  their 
shops  rather  than  sell  goods  for  the  worthless  stuff.  Then  the 
legislature  made  it  a  penal  offense,  punishable  without  jury 
trial,  to  refuse  the  paper  in  trade.  Finally  a  certain  Weeden, 
a  butcher,  who  had  refused  to  sell  meat  for  paper  to  one 
Trevett,  was  brought  to  trial  (1786).  Weeden's  lawyer  pleaded 
that  the  law,  refusing  jury  trial,  was  in  conflict  with  the  "  con- 

1  Cf.  Source  Book,  No  151,  a,  for  a  statement  of  grievances. 

2  All  this  has  no  application  to  an  issue  of  paper  money  properly  secured 
upon  some  real  value  for  which  it  can  be  exchanged. 


278  THE   CRITICAL  PERIOD,    1783-1788  [§  328 

stitution  " l  and  was  therefore  void.  The  court  took  this  view 
and  dismissed  the  case.  The  legislature  summoned  the  judges 
to  defend  themselves  ;  and,  after  hearing  their  defense,  voted 
that  it  was  unsatisfactory.  At  the  next  election,  three  of  the 
four  judges  were  defeated  ;  but  their  action  had  helped  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  the  tremendous  power  of  the  later  American 
courts. 

328.  Most  important  of  all  the  anarchic  movements  was  Shays' 
Rebellion  in  Massachusetts.     For  six  months  in  1786-1787,  parts 
of  the  State  were  in  armed  insurrection  against  the  regular 
State  government.     Rioters  broke  up  the  courts  in  three  large 
districts,  to  stop  proceedings  against   debtors.      And  Daniel 
Shays,  a  Revolutionary   captain,  with  nearly  two   thousand 
men,  was  barely  repulsed  from  the  Federal  arsenal  at  Spring 
field.     Says  Francis  A.  Walker  (Making  of  the  Nation,  17)  :  — 

"The  insurgents  were  largely,  at  least  in  the  first  instance,  sober, 
decent,  industrious  men,  wrought  to  madness  by  what  they  deemed  their 
wrongs ;  but  they  were,  of  course,  joined  by  the  idle,  the  dissipated,  the 
discontented,  the  destructive  classes,  as  the  insurrection  grew." 

i  Congress  prepared  to  raise  troops  to  aid  Massachusetts,  but, 
fearing  to  avow  that  purpose,  pretended  to  be  preparing  for  an 
Indian  outbreak.  In  any  case,  Congress  was  too  slow  to  help. 
The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  too,  proved  timid.  But 
Governor  Bowdoin  acted  with  decision.  The  State  militia 
were  called  out  (supported  by  contributions  from  Boston 
capitalists),  and  the  rebels  were  dispersed  in  a  sharp  mid 
winter  campaign.  A  few  months  later,  however,  Bowdoin  was 
defeated  for  reelection  by  John  Hancock,  a  sympathizer  with 
the  rebellion,  —  who  then  pardoned  Shays  and  other  rebel 
leaders. 

329.  This  rebellion  was  one  of  the  chief  events  leading  to  the  new 
Federal  Constitution.     Men  could  look  calmly  at  Rhode  Island  vagaries, 
and  even  at  New  Hampshire  anarchy ;  but  riot  and  rebellion  in  the  staid, 

1  "  Constitution  "  was  used  here,  as  by  Otis  in  1761,  in  the  English  sense, 
since  the  Rhode  Island  Charter  made  no  specific  reference  to  trial  by  jury 
This  makes  the  decision  the  more  daring  and  remarkable. 


§  331]  THE  ARTICLES  279 

powerful  Bay  State  was  another  matter.  It  seemed  to  prophesy  the  dis 
solution  of  society,  unless  there  could  be  formed  at  once  a  central  govern 
ment  strong  enough  "to  ensure  domestic  tranquillity."  When  Henry 
Lee  in  Congress  spoke  of  using  influence  to  abate  the  Rebellion,  Wash 
ington  wrote  him  in  sharp  rebuke:  "You  talk,  my  good  Sir,  of  using 
influence.  .  .  .  Influence  is  no  government.  Let  us  have  one  [a  govern 
ment]  by  which  our  lives,  liberties,  and  properties  may  be  secured,  or  let 
us  know  the  worst." 

330.  All  these  evils  of  the  Critical  Period  had  their  roots  in 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.     The  Confederation  called  itself 
a  "firm  league  of  friendship."     Avowedly  it  fell  far  short  of 
a  national  union.     The  central  authority  was  vested  in  a  Con 
gress  of  delegates.     These  delegates  were  appointed  annually 
by  the  State  legislatures,  and  were  paid  by  them.     Each  State 
had  one  vote  in  Congress,1  and  nine  States  had  to  agree  for 
important  measures.     Each  State  promised  to  the  citizens  of 
the  other  States  all  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  its  own  citizens 
(the  greatest  step  toward  real  unity  in  the  Articles)  ;  and  the 
States  were  forbidden  to  enter  into  any  treaty  with  foreign 
powers  or  with  each  other,  or  to  make  laws  or  impose  tariffs 
that  should  conflict  with  any  treaty  made  by  Congress.     Con 
gress  was  to  have  sole  control  over  all  foreign  relations ;  and, 
for  internal  matters,  it  was  to  manage  the  postal  service  and 
regulate  weights  and  measures  and  the  coinage. 

The  final  article  read :  "  Every  State  shall  abide  by  the  deter 
mination  of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all 
questions  which  by  this  Confederation  are  submitted  to  them. 
And  the  Articles  of  this  Confederation  shall  be  inviolably  ob 
served  by  every  State,  and  the  Union  shall  be  perpetual.  .  .  ." 
But  a  previous  article  provided,  "  Each  State  retains  its  sov 
ereignty,  freedom,  and  independence,  and  every  power,  juris 
diction,  and  right  which  is  not  by  this  Confederation  expressly 
delegated  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled." 

331.  The  "  Articles  of  Confederation  "  was  not  a  crude  or  clumsy 
document  of  its  kind.     Probably  it  was  the  best  constitution  for  a 

1  For  this  rule  in  1774,  cf.  Source  Book,  No.  130,  a.  For  the  contest  over 
the  matter  in  forming  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  cf.  ib.,  No.  146. 


280  THE   CRITICAL  PERIOD,    1783-1788  [§  331 

confederacy  of  states  that  the  world  had  ever  seen.  Certainly  it 
had  many  improvements  over  the  ancient  Greek  confederations 
and  over  the  Swiss  and  Dutch  unions.  The  real  trouble  was, 
no  mere  confederacy  could  answer  the  needs  of  the  new  American 
people.  That  people  needed  a  national  government. 

The  inadequacies  of  the  Articles  may  be  treated  conveniently 
under"  four  heads :  (1)  poor  machinery  of  government ;  (2) 
insufficient  enumeration  of  powers  ;  (3)  impossibility  of  amend 
ment  ;  and  (4)  the  fact  that  the  government  could  not  act  upon 
individual  citizens,  but  only  upon  States. 

a.  The  requirement  that  nine  States  in  Congress  must  agree 
for  important  business   hindered   action  unduly,  —  especially 
when  for  long  periods  not  more  than  nine  or  ten  States  were 
represented.     Moreover,  the  union  had  no  executive  and  only 
a  feeble  germ  of  a  judiciary. 

b.  No  federal  government  had  ever  had  a  longer  list  of  impor 
tant  matters  committed  to  its  control,  but  the  list  should  have 
contained  at  least  two  more  powers :  power  to  regulate  interstate 
commerce  would  have  prevented  much  civil  strife ;  and  author 
ity  to  levy  a  low  tariff  for  revenue  would  have  done  away  with 
the  chief  financial  difficulties. 

c.  After  all,  the  defects  discussed  in  a  and  b  were  matters 
of  detail.     They  might  have  been  remedied  without  giving  up 
the  fundamental  principle  of  the  union  as  a  league  of  sovereign 
States.     And  the  States  would  have  corrected  them,  in  part  at 
least,  had  it  not  been  for  the  third  evil.     The  amending  clause 
(in  the  Thirteenth  Article)  demanded  the  unanimous  consent 
of  the  thirteen  /State  legislatures  for  any  change  in  the  Articles. 
In  practice,  this  prevented  any  amendment. 

In  February,  1781,  Congress  submitted  to  the  States  an  amendment 
which  would  have  added  to  its  powers  the  authority  to  put  a  five  per  cent 
tariff  on  imports,  —  the  proceeds  to  be  used  in  paying  the  national  debt 
and  the  interest  upon  it.  This  modest  request  for  an  absolutely  indis 
pensable  power  roused  intense  opposition.  "  If  taxes  can  thus  be  levied 
by  any  power  outside  the  States,"  cried  misguided  patriots,  "  why  did  we 
oppose  the  tea  duties  ?  "  After  a  year's  discussion,  twelve  States  con- 


§  332]  THE  ARTICLES  281 

sented ;  but  Rhode  Island  voted  that  such  authority  in  Congress  would 
"endanger  the  liberties  of  the  States,"  and  the  amendment  failed. 

Another  attempt  was  made  at  once  (1783),  similar  to  the  former  ex 
cept  that  now  the  authority  was  to  be  granted  Congress  for  only  twenty- 
five  years.  Four  States  voted  No.1  Congress  made  them  a  solemn  appeal 
not  to  ruin  the  only  means  of  redeeming  the  sacred  faith  of  the  Union. 
Three  of  them  yielded,  but  New  York  (jealous  now  of  her  rapidly  grow 
ing  commerce)  maintained  her  refusal ;  and  the  amendment  again  failed 
(1786),  after  three  years  of  negotiation.  Farseeing  men  then  gave  up 
hope  of  efficient  amendment  by  constitutional  means.  Revolution  (peace 
able  or  violent)  or  anarchy,  —  these  were  the  alternatives. 

d.  The  fourth  evil  (the  failure  to  act  upon  individuals)  was 
fundamental.  It  could  not  be  corrected  except  by  changing  the 
confederation  of  sovereign  States  into  some  kind  of  national 
union.  For  three  millions  of  weak  subjects  Congress  might 
have  passed  laws.  On  thirteen  powerful  subjects  it  could 
merely  make  requisitions.  John  Smith  or  Henry  Jones  would 
hardly  think  of  refusing  obedience  to  a  command  from  a  Cen 
tral  government ;  but  New  York  or  Virginia  felt  as  strong  as 
Congress  itself,  and  would  do  as  they  pleased.  A  confederation 
of  states  is  necessarily  a  "  government  by  supplication." 

332.  In  the  final  outcome  it  was  fortunate  that  constitutional 
amendment  was  impossible.  Otherwise,  reasonable  amendment 
might  have  patched  up  the  Articles  and  kept  the  defective 
union  alive.  But  no  ordinary  amendment  could  have  cured  the 
fundamental  evil.  The  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787,  when 
it  came,  perceived  the  need  clearly  and  met  it  courageously. 
For  several  years,  from  1781  to  1787,  thinkers  had  been  grop 
ing  towards  the  idea  that  we  must  have  a  new  kind  of  federa- 
tion,  such  that  the  central  government  could  act  directly  upon 
individual  citizens;  and  in  that  final  year  Hamilton  wrote :  — 

"  The  evils  we  experience  do  not  proceed  from  minute  or  partial  imper 
fections,  but  from  fundamental  errors  in  the  structure,  which  cannot  be 

1  Virginia  was  one  of  the  four  States  that  at  first  refused.  "  This  State," 
said  Arthur  Lee,  "is  resolved  not  to  suffer  the  exercise  of  any  foreign  power 
or  influence  within  it."  And  Richard  Henry  Lee  affirmed  that  if  such  an 
amendment  prevailed,  Liberty  would  "  become  an  empty  name." 


282  THE  CRITICAL  PERIOD,    1783-1788  [§  333 

amended  otherwise  than  by  an  alteration  in  the  first  principles  and  main 
pillars  of  the  fabric.  The  great  radical  vice  of  the  existing  confederacy 
is  the  principle  of  LEGISLATION  for  STATES  in  their  corporate  or  collective 
capacity,  as  contradistinguished  from  the  INDIVIDUALS  of  which  they  con 
sist." —  Federalist,  XI.  (The  variety  of  type  was  used  by  Hamilton.) 

333.  This  fundamental  defect  of  the  Confederation  had  been  found 
in  every  federal  union  in  earlier  history.  All  had  been  confedera 
tions  of  states.  The  American  Constitution  of  1787  was  to  give 
to  the  world  a  new  type  of  government,  —  a  federal  state.  In 
the  old  type  the  states  remained  sovereign  states  confederated. 
In  the  new  type  they  are  fused,  for  certain  purposes,  into  one 
sovereign  unit. 

This  new  kind  of  federal  government  was  "  a  great  discovery 
in  political  science."  1  It  was  adopted  by  Switzerland  in  1848, 
by  the  Dominion  of  Canada  in  1867,  by  the  German  Empire  in 
1871,  by  Australia  in  1900,  and  by  South  Africa  in  1909. 

1  Tocqueville,  a  shrewd  and  friendly  French  observer.  His  Democracy  in 
America  (1835)  was  the  first  careful  and  sympathetic  study  of  our  institu 
tions.  For  sixty  years  it  remained  the  best  textbook  on  our  government, 
until  superseded,  in  a  measure,  by  the  work  of  an  English  statesman  (Bryce's 
American  Commonwealth).  Both  works  may  be  used  to  advantage  by  high 
school  students. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION 

334.  WHEN  the  second  revenue  amendment  failed,  in  1786 
(§  331),  a  Continental  convention  had  already  been  called  to  con 
sider  more  radical  changes. 

Suggestions  for  a  convention  to  form  a  stronger  government 
had  been  made  from  time  to  time  by  individuals  for  several 
years.  As  early  as  1776  Thomas  Paine  had  urged :  — 

"  Nothing  but  a  continental  form  of  government  can  keep  the  peace  of 
the  continent.  .  .  .  Let  a  continental  conference  be  held  to  frame  a  con 
tinental  charter.  .  .  .  Our  strength  and  happiness  are  continental,  not 
provincial.  We  have  every  opportunity  and  every  encouragement  to 
form  the  noblest  and  purest  constitution  on  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Twice  Hamilton  had  secured  from  the  New  York  legislature  a 
resolution  favoring  such  a  convention.  No  concrete  result  fol 
lowed,  however,  until  these  proposals  became  connected  with  a 
commercial  undertaking. 

Washington  had  long  been  interested  in  Western  lands,  and 
at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  he  owned  some  thirty  thousand 
acres  in  the  Virginia  Military  Reserve  (§  311).  A  visit  to  the 
West  impressed  him  powerfully  with  the  need  of  better  com 
munication  with  that  region,  both  for  business  prosperity  and 
for  continued  political  union  ; l  and  he  urged  Virginia  to  build 
roads  to  her  Western  possessions.  In  pursuance  of  this  idea 
he  became  president  of  a  company  to  improve  the  navigation 
of  the  Potomac.  This  matter  required  assent  from  both  Vir 
ginia  and  Maryland.  These  States  were  also  in  dispute  over 
the  tariffs  at  the  mouth  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  At  Washington's 

1  Referring  to  the  danger  that  the  Westerners  might  join  Spain  (§  304),  he 
wrote :  "  They  .  .  stand,  as  it  were,  upon  a  pivot.  The  touch  of  a  feather 
would  turn  them  either  way." 

283 


284  MAKING  THE   CONSTITUTION  [§  335 

invitation,  commissioners  from  the  two  States  met  at  Mount 
Vernon,  to  discuss  these  matters.  There  it  was  decided  to  hold 
another  meeting  to  which  Pennsylvania  also  should  be  invited, 
as  she,  too,  was  interested  in  Chesapeake  Bay.  Washington 
had  suggested  that  the  proposed  meeting,  since  it  concerned 
improvement  in  the  means  of  commerce,  should  consider  also 
the  possibility  of  uniform  duties  on  that  commerce.  Maryland 
expressed  approval,  and  asked  whether  it  might  not  be  well  to 
invite  other  States  to  the  proposed  conference ;  and  Virginia 
finally  issued  an  invitation  to  all  the  States  to  send  representa 
tives  to  Annapolis,  September  1,  1786. 

335.  Only  five  States  appeared  at  this  Annapolis  Convention. 
Even  Maryland  failed  to  choose  delegates.  But  New  Jersey 
had  instructed  her  representatives  to  try  to  secure,  not  only 
uniform  duties,  but  also  other  measures  which  might  render  the 
Confederation  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  times.  This  thought 
was  made  the  basis  of  a  new  call.  The  delegates  at  Annapolis 
adopted  an  address  (drawn  by  Hamilton)  urging  all  the  States 
to  send  Commissioners  to  Philadelphia  the  following  May,  — 

"  to  devise  such  further  provisions  as  shall  appear  to  them  necessary  to 
render  the  constitution  of  the  federal  government  adequate  to  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  Union,"  and  to  report  to  Congress  such  an  act  "  as  when 
agreed  toby  them  [Congress],  and  confirmed  by  the  legislatures  of  every 
State,  will  effectually  provide  for"  those  exigencies. 

At  first  this  call  attracted  little  attention.  But  the  sudden 
increase  of  anarchy  in  the  fall  of  1786  brought  men  to  recognize 
the  need  for  immediate  action  (§  329).  Here  was  the  oppor 
tunity.  Madison  persuaded  the  Virginia  legislature  to  appoint 
delegates  and  to  head  the  list  with  the  name  of  Washington. 
Other  States  followed  promptly ;  and  the  Philadelphia  Conven 
tion  became  a  fact. 

Even  in  Virginia  there  was  warm  opposition  to  a  convention.  Patrick 
Henry  refused  to  attend,  and  the  young  Monroe  called  the  meeting  un 
wise.  Washington  thought  of  declining  his  appointment,  not  because  the 
meeting  was  not  needed,  but  because  he  expected  it  to  turn  out  a  fizzle. 
Not  until  late  in  March  did  he  agree  to  go,  after  three  months  of  hesitation. 


§  337]  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  285 

336.  The  famous  Philadelphia  Convention  lasted  four  months  — 
from  May  25,   1787,   to   September   17.     The   debates   were 
guarded  by  the  most  solemn  pledges  of  secrecy.     Most  that  we 
know  about  them  comes  from  Madison's  notes.     Madison  had 
been  disappointed  in  the  meager  information  regarding  the  es 
tablishment  of  earlier  confederacies,  and  he  believed  that  upon 
the   success   of  the  federation  now  to  be  formed  "  would  be 
staked  .  .  .  possibly  the  cause  of  liberty  throughout  the  world." 
Accordingly,   he   determined   to   preserve   full  records  of  its 
genesis.     Missing  no  session,  he  kept  careful  notes   of  each 
day's  proceedings  and  of  each  speaker's  arguments  ;  and  each 
evening  he  wrote  up  these  notes  more  fully,  submitting  them 
sometimes  to  the  speakers  for  correction.     In  1837,  when  every 
member  of  the  Convention  had  passed  away,  Congress  bought 
this  manuscript  from  Mrs.  Madison,  and  published  it  as  "  Madi 
son's  Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention"     A  few  other 
members  took  imperfect  notes  and  several  wrote  letters  that 
throw  light  upon  the  attitude  of  certain  men.1 

337.  Fifty-five   men   sat   in  the  Convention.      Seventy-three 
delegates    were   appointed;   but    eighteen    failed    to   appear. 
Twenty-nine  of  the  fifty-five  had  benefited  by  college  life ;   but 
among  those  who  had  missed  that  training  were  Franklin  and 
Washington.     With  few  exceptions  the  members  were  young 
men,  several  of  the  most  active  being  under  thirty.     The  entire 
body  was  English  by  descent  and  traditions.     Three  notable 
members  —  Alexander   Hamilton   of  New   York,   and  James 
Wilson  and  Eobert  Morris  of  Pennsylvania  —  had  been  born 
English  subjects  outside  the   United   States  ;   and   the   great 
South  Carolina  delegates,  Rutledge  and  the  Pinckneys,   had 
been  educated  in  England. 

Virginia  and  New  Jersey  were  to  give  their  names  to  the  two 
schemes  that  contended  for  mastery  in  the  Convention ;  and 
their  delegations,  therefore,  are  of  special  interest.  Virginia 
sent  seven  members.  Among  them  were  Washington,  George 

1  All  these  sources  are  collected  and  edited  by  Professor  Max  Farrand  in 
The  Records  of  the  Federal  Convention  of  1787. 


286  MAKING  THE   CONSTITUTION  [§  338 

Mason  (who  eleven  years  before  had  drawn  the  first  State 
constitution),  Edmund  Randolph,  her  brilliant  young  Governor, 
and  Madison,  who  was  to  earn  the  title  "  Father  of  the  Consti 
tution."  New  Jersey  sent  four  delegates,  all  tried  statesmen : 
Livingstone,  eleven  times  her  Governor ;  Patterson,  ten  times 
her  Attorney-General ;  Brearly,  her  great  Chief  Justice,  who 
had  taken  the  greatest  step  in  America  so  far  toward  magnify 
ing  the  function  of  the  courts  (§  352,  b,  note)  ;  and  Houston, 
many  times  her  Congressman. 

These  delegations  were  typical.  "  Hardly  a  man  in  the 
Convention,"  says  McMaster,  "but  had  sat  in  some  famous 
assembly,  had  filled  some  high  place,  or  had  made  himself  con 
spicuous  for  learning,  for  scholarship,  or  for  signal  service 
rendered  in  the  cause  of  liberty." 

338.  But  this  illustrious  company  felt  a  deep  distrust  of  de 
mocracy.  They  did  not  believe  in  a  "  government  o/the  people 
and  by  the  people."  In  their  political  thought,  they  were  much 
closer  to  John  Winthrop  than  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  They  wished 
a  government  for  the  people,  but  by  what  they  were  fond  of 
calling  "  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  country."  At  best, 
they  were  willing  only  so  far  to  divide  power  between  "the 
few "  and  "  the  many  "  as  to  keep  each  class  from  oppressing 
the  other,  —  and  they  felt  particular  tenderness  for  " the  few" 
The  same  causes  that  made  them  desire  a  stronger  government 
made  them  wish  also  a  more  aristocratic  government.  It 
seemed  an  axiom  to  them  that  the  unhappy  conditions  of  their 
country  were  due  (as  Gerry1  phrased  it)  to  "an  excess  of 
democracy." 

Necessarily  the  men  of  the  Convention  belonged  to  the  eight 
eenth  century,  not  the  twentieth.  But,  more  than  that,  they 
represented  the  crest  of  a  reactionary  movement  of  their  own 
day.  In  the  early  Revolutionary  years,  the  leaders  had  been 
forced  to  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  democracy  for 
protection  against  England  (§  231),  and  those  years  had  been 

1  Elbridge  Gerry  was  one  of  the  four  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  perhaps 
the  most  democratic  of  them,  and,  some  years  later,  a  real  democratic  leader. 


§  338]  DISTRUST   OF  DEMOCRACY  287 

marked  by  a  burst  of  noble  enthusiasm  for  popular  government. 
But,  when  the  struggle  was  over,  the  "leaders  of  society" 
began  to  look  coldly  upon  further  partnership  with  distasteful 
allies  no  longer  needed ;  and  this  inevitable  tendency  was  mag 
nified  by  the  unhappy  turbulence  of  the  times.  By  1785, 
especially  among  the  professional  and  commercial  classes,  a 
conservative  reaction  had  set  in ;  and  this  expressed  itself  em 
phatically  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention.  Says  Woodrow  Wil 
son  (Division  and  Reunion,  12  ):  — 

"The  Federal  government  was  not  by  intention  a  democratic  govern 
ment.  In  plan  and  in  structure  it  had  been  meant  to  check  the  sweep  and 
power  of  popular  majorities.  .  .  [It]  had  in  fact  been  originated  and 
organized  upon  the  initiative,  and  primarily  in  the  interest,  of  the  mer 
cantile  and  wealthy  classes." 

May  31,  the  second  day  of  debate,  Gerry  declared  that  he 
"  abhorred  "  pure  democracy  as  "  the  worst  of  all  political  evils.7' l 
The  same  day,  Roger  Sherman  of  Connecticut  objected  to  the 
popular  election  of  the  members  even  of  the  lower  House  of  Con 
gress,  because  "  the  people,  immediately,  should  have  as  little  to  do 
as  may  be  about  the  government "  ;  and  Randolph  explained  that 
the  Senate,  in  the  Virginia  plan,  was  designed  as  "a  check 
against  this  tendency  "  [democracy].  In  tracing  to  their  origin 
the  evils  under  which  the  country  labored,  "  every  man,"  he 
affirmed,  "  had  found  [that  origin]  in  the  turbulence  and  follies  of 
democracy."  Two  days  later,  Dickinson  declared  "a  limited 
monarchy  .  .  .  one  of  the,  best  governments  in  the  world.  It 
was  not  certain  that  equal  blessings  were  derivable  from  any 
other  form.  ...  A  limited  monarchy,  however,  was  out  of  the 
question.  The  spirit  of  the  times  forbade  the  experiment.  .  .  . 
But  though  a  form  the  most  perfect  perhaps  in  itself  be  unat 
tainable,  we  must  not  despair " ;  and  he  proceeded  to  suggest 
ways  to  make  property  count  in  the  new  government.  June  6, 
he  returned  to  this  theme,  urging  that  the  Senate  should  be 
"  carried  through  such  a  refining  process  [viz.,  indirect  elections 

1  The  following  quotations  in  this  chapter  all  come  from  Madison's  Journal, 
unless  otherwise  indicated. 


288  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  OF   1787  [§  339 

and  property  qualifications]  as  will  assimilate  it,  as  nearly  as 
may  be,  to  the  House  of  Lords  in  England." 

Gouverneur  Morris  of  Pennsylvania,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  effective  men  in  the  Convention,  also  believed  it  essential 
that  the  Senate  should  be  "  an  aristocratic  body,"  composed  of 
rich  men  holding  office  for  life.  Said  he,  "  It  must  have  great 
personal  property  ;  it  must  have  the  aristocratic  spirit ;  it  must 
love  to  lord  it  through  pride."  Morris,  Eufus  King  of  Massa 
chusetts,  and  Eutledge  strove  strenuously  to  have  wealth  repre 
sented  in  the  lower  House  also,  affirming,  each  of  them,  that 
"property  is  the  main  object  of  government";  nor  did  this 
claim,  so  un-American  to  our  ears,  call  forth  one  protest  that 
government  should  concern  itself  as  much  with  human  rights 
as  with  property  rights. 

Hamilton  held,  'perhaps,  the  most  extreme  ground  against 
democracy.  He  "  acknowledged  himself  not  to  think  favorably 
of  republican  government.  .  .  ..  He  was  sensible  at  the  same 
time  that  it  would  be  unwise  [for  the  convention]  to  propose 
one  of  any  other  form.  But  in  his  private  opinion,  he  had  no 
scruple  in  declaring,  supported  as  he  was  by  the  opinion  of  so 
many  of  the  good  and  wise,  that  the  British  government  was 
the  best  in  the  world,  and  he  doubted  much  whether  anything 
short  of  it  would  do  in  America"  It  was  "  the  model  to  which 
we  should  approach  as  nearly  as  possible."  The  House  of 
Lords  he  styled  "a  most  noble  institution,"  especially  com 
mending  it  as  "  a  permanent  barrier  against  every  pernicious  in 
novation."  1 

339.  Such  statements  went  almost  unchallenged.  Dissent,  if 
expressed  at  all,  cloaked  itself  in  apologetic  phrase.  This  was 
due  to  the  unfortunate  absence  of  a  group  of  splendid  figures 

1  Hamilton  then  presented  a  detailed  plan,  which,  he  said,  represented  his 
own  views  of  what  was  desirable  in  America:  —  an  Executive  for  life,  with 
extreme  monarchic  powers  (including  an  absolute  veto),  chosen  by  indirect 
election;  a  Senate  for  life,  chosen  by  indirect  election;  and  a  representative 
assembly  chosen  by  freeholders;  this  government  was  to  appoint  the  gov 
ernors  of  the  States,  and,  through  them,  to  exercise  an  absolute  veto  upon  all 
State  legislation. 


340] 


DISTRUST  OF  DEMOCRACY 


289 


whom  we  might  have  expected  to  see  in  that  gathering.  Great 
as  the  Virginia  delegation  was,  it  might  have  been  greater  still, 
had  it  included  Thomas  Jefferson,  Patrick  Henry,  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  or  Thomas  Paine;  and  it  would  no  doubt  have 
been  well  had  Massachusetts  sent  Samuel  Adams,  or  New 
York  her  great  war-governor,  George  Clinton.  Four  or  five 
of  these  democratic  leaders  would  have  given  a  different  tone 
to  the  debates.  As  things 
were,  every  prominent 
patriot  of  Revolutionary 
fame,  on  the  conservative 
side,  was  present,  except 
John  Adams  and  John 
Jay  ;  but  the  lonely  repre 
sentatives  of  democracy 
were  George  Mason  and 
the  aged  and  gentle  Frank 
lin.  And  even  Mason  "  ad 
mitted  that  we  had  been 
too  democratic,"  though 
he  was  fearful  the  Con 
vention  was  going  to  the 
other  extreme.1 

340.  The  Convention  had 
many  conflicting  interests. 
It  contained  Nationalists 
and  State-sovereignty 


men,  "Northerners"  and 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  From  the  portrait 
painted  by  Duplessis,  during  Franklin's 
residence  in  France,  a  few  years  before 
the  Convention  ;  now  owned  by  the  Boston 
Athenaeum  and  loaned  to  the  Boston 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts. 


"  Southerners,"  commer 
cial  interests  and  agricul 
tural  interests,  advocates  of  extending  slavery  and  friends  of 
restricting  slavery.  These  various  lines  were  so  intertangled  as 
to  prevent  definite  "parties."  It  is  convenient  to  speak  of  a 
"  large-State  party  "  and  "  a  small-State  party  " ;  but  the  men 

1  Cf.  Mason's  letter  to  his  son  in  Source  Book,  No.  155.    See  also  /6.,  Nos. 
157,  162,  163. 


290  FEDERAL  CONVENTION   OF   1787  §  341 

who  divided  in  this  particular  way  on  one  great  question  found 
themselves  in  quite  different  combinations  on  almost  every 
other  problem. 

No  praise  is  too  high  for  the  patience  and  "  sweet  reasonable 
ness"  (failing  only  with  a  few  individuals  and  on  rare  oc 
casions)  with  which  on  all  these  matters  the  great  statesmen 
of  that  memorable  assembly  strove  first  to  convince  one 
another,  and,  failing  that,  to  find  a  rational  compromise. 

341.  High  praise,  too,  is  due  their  profound  aversion  to  mere 
theory,  their  instinctive  preference  for  that  which  had  been 
proven  good.     Mr.   Gladstone   once   said:    "As    the   British 
constitution  is  the  most  subtle  organism  which  has  proceeded 
'from  progressive  history,  so  the  American  constitution  is  the 
most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  moment  by  the 
hand  and  purpose  of  man."     This  sentence  has  helped  to  spread 
the  idea  that  the  Philadelphia  Convention  invented  a  whole  set 
of  new  institutions.     Such  an  impression  is  mistaken.     Prac 
tically  every  piece  of  political  machinery  in  the  Constitution 
was  taken  from  the  familiar  workings  of  State  constitutions. 

342.  Some  months  before  the  meeting,  Madison  had  drawn 
up   several   propositions   concerning  a   new   government,   in 
letters  to  Jefferson  and  Washington.     The  Virginia  delegates 
were  the  first  to  arrive  at  Philadelphia.     While  they  waited 
for  others,  they  caucused  daily,  formulating  these  suggestions 
of  Madison's  into  the  Virginia  Plan.     May  29,  this  plan  was 
presented  to  the  Convention  by  Eandolph  in  a  brilliant  speech. 

The  plan  provided  for  a  two-House  legislature.  The  lower 
House  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  people  and  was  to  be  appor 
tioned  among  the  States  in  proportion  to  population  or  wealth 
(so  that  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Massachusetts  each  would 
have  sixteen  or  seventeen  delegates  to  one  from  Delaware  or 
Rhode  Island).  The  upper  House  was  to  be  chosen  by  the 
lower.  There  was  no  provision  for  equality  of  the  States  in 
either  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  no  security  that  a  small 
State  would  have  any  part  at  all  in  the  upper  House.  As  to 
power,  this  central  legislature  was  to  fix  its  own  limits.  And  it 


5  343]         VIRGINIA  AND  NEW  JERSEY  PLANS  291 

was  to  have  an  absolute  veto  upon  any  State  legislation  which  it 
thought  inconsistent  with  its  own  laws. 

This  plan  would  have  left  the  States  hardly  more  than  con 
venient  administrative  districts,  and  would  have  created  a  govern 
ment  more  like  that  of  modern  France  than  like  that  of  the 
present  United  States.1 

[The  following  section  is  intended  for  convenient  reference.    Students 
are  not  expected  to  remember  details.] 

343.   The  further  procedure  had  seven  periods. 

a.  For  two  weeks,  in  committee  of  the  whole,2  the  Randolph 
resolutions  were  debated,  clause  by  clause.  Then  came  an  in 
terruption.  So  far,  the  large  States,  in  favor  of  real  national 
union,  had  had  things  their  own  way  ;  but  at  last  the  small- 
State  delegates  had  united  upon  the  New  Jersey  Plan,  which 
was  now  presented  to  the  Convention  by  Patterson. 

The  Virginia  Plan  substituted  a  new  constitution  for  the  old  one.  The 
New  Jersey  Plan  would  merely  have  amended  the  old  Confederation  in 
some  particulars.  It  would  have  given  Congress  power  to  impose  tariffs 
and  to  use  force  against  a  delinquent  State;  and  it  designed  a  true  execu 
tive  and  an  imposing  federal  judiciary. 

6.  The  committee  of  the  whole  gave  another  week  to  com 
paring  the  two  plans.  Then,  by  a  decisive  vote,  it  set  aside 
the  new  proposals  and  returned  to  the  Virginia  Plan  as  the 
basis  for  further  work. 

c.  From  June  19  to  July  26  nineteen  resolutions  based  on 
the  Virginia  Plan,  and  adopted  in  Committee,  were  considered 
again,  in  formal  Convention,  clause  by  clause.  Midway  in 

1  This  and  the  New  Jersey  Plan  are  given  in  full  in  the  Source  Book. 

2  Legislatures  and  conventions  go  into  "  committee  of  the  whole  "  to  secure 
greater  freedom  of  debate  (and  sometimes  more  secrecy  in  voting)  than  the 
usual  rules  permit  in  regular  session.    When  the  committee  votes  "  to  rise," 
the  regular  presiding  officer  resumes  the  chair,  and  the  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  reports.     (Usually  the  votes  and  debates  are  not  entered  in  the  official 
record,  but  only  this  report  of  the  result.)    The  assembly  then  takes  up  the 
report,  as  it  would  that  of  any  other  committee,  for  discussion  and  action ; 
but  the  real  fate  of  legislative  measures  and  the  most  important  amendments 
and  debates  come  commonly  "  in  committee." 


292  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  OF  1787  [§  343 

this  period  came  the  great  crisis,  when  day  by  day  the  Con 
vention  tottered  on  the  brink  of  disruption  in  the  contest 
between  large  and  small  States.  That  calamity  was  finally 
averted  by  the  Connecticut  Compromise  (§  344). 

d.  The  Convention  then  adjourned  for  eleven  days,  while 
the  conclusions  so  far  agreed  upon  were  put  into  the  form  of  a 
constitution,  in  Articles  and  Sections,  by  a  Committee  of  Detail. 

e.  From  August-  6   to  September  10,  the  Convention  con 
sidered  this  draft  of  a  constitution,  section  by  section. 

/.  Next,  a  Committee  of  Revision  (often  referred  to  as  the 
"Committee  on  Style")  redrafted  the  Constitution  according 
to  the  latest  conclusions  of  the  Convention.  To  Gouverneur 
Morris,  chairman  of  this  committee,  we  owe  in  large  degree 
the  admirable  arrangement  and  clear  wording  of  the  document. 

g.  Once  more  the  Convention  reviewed  its  work  in  this  new 
form  (September  12-17).  This  time  few  changes  were  made  ; 
and  September  17  the  Constitution  in  its  final  form  was  signed 
by  thirty-nine  delegates,  representing  twelve  States. 

Thirteen  of  the  fifty-five  delegates  had  left ;  and  three  of  those  present 
(Randolph,  Mason,  and  Gerry)  refused  to  sign.  Randolph  afterwards 
urged  ratification  in  Virginia,  but  Mason  and  Gerry  remained  earnest 
opponents  of  ratification.  In  July,  Mason  had  said  that  it  could  not  be 
more  inconvenient  for  any  gentleman  to  remain  absent  from  his  private 
affairs  than  it  was  for  him ;  but  he  would  ' '  bury  his  bones  in  this  city 
rather  than  expose  his  country  to  the  consequences  of  a  dissolution 
without  anything  being  done."  On  August  31,  however,  he  exclaimed 
that  he  ' '  would  sooner  chop  off  his  right  hand  than  put  it  to  the  Constitu 
tion  as  it  now  stands."  (His  "Objections"  are  in  the  Source  Book, 
Nos.  162,  163.) 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE  CONSTITUTION 

[  This  chapter  should  be  discussed  with  books  open.'] 

344.  EARLY  in  the  debates,  the  Connecticut  delegates  (Roger 
Sherman,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  and  William  Johnson)  had  proposed 
a  compromise  between  the  Virginia  and  the  New  Jersey  plans  : 
i.e.  that  the  lower  House  of  the  legislature  should  represent 
the  people,  and  that  the  upper  House  should  represent  States, 
each  State  having  there  an  equal  vote.  When  feeling  ran 
highest  between  the  large-State  and  small-State  parties 
(§  343,  c),  this  proposal  was  renewed  with  effect.  v  : 

The  debate  had  grown  violent.  The  small-State  delegates 
served  notice  that  they  would  not  submit  to  the  Virginia  Plan. 
A  large-State  delegate  threatened  that  if  not  persuasion,  then 
the  sword,  should  unite  the  States.  Small-State  men  retorted 
bitterly  that  they  would  seek  European  protection,  if  needful, 
against  such  coercion  (Source  Book,  No.  161). 

Each  State  had  one  vote.  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Massachusetts 
were  the  true  "large  States "  ;  but  with  them,  on  this  issue,  were  ranged 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  New  Jersey,  New  York,1 
Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Connecticut  comprised  the  "  small-State  party." 
Rhode  Island  never  appointed  delegates,  and  the  New  Hampshire  repre 
sentatives  were  not  on  the  ground  until  July  23,  after  this  question  had 
been  settled.  Had  these  two  States  taken  part,  the  "small  States" 
would  have  controlled  the  Convention  from  the  first,  and  no  important 
result  could  have  been  secured. 

1  New  York  was  then  little  more  than  the  valley  of  the  Hudson.  Hamilton, 
delegate  from  that  State,  was  an  extreme  centralizer ;  but  he  was  outvoted 
always  by  his  two  colleagues.  In  the  height  of  this  debate,  those  gentlemen 
seceded  from  the  Convention.  After  that,  New  York  had  no  vote  whatever, 
since  the  legislature  had  provided  that  the  State  should  not  be  represented  by 
less  than  two  of  the  three  delegates.  Partly  for  this  reason,  Hamilton  had 
little  influence  upon  the  work  of  the  Convention. 

293 


294  FEDERAL  CONVENTION   OF   1787  [§  345 

The  critical  vote  came  July  2,  after  a  week's  strenuous  de 
bate.  The  first  ten  States  to  vote  stood  five  to  five.  If  either 
party  won,  the  other  was  likely  to  organize  a  separate  conven 
tion.  Georgia  was  still  to  vote ;  and  one  of  her  two  delegates 
voted  on  the  small-State  side  (against  his  own  convictions),  so 
as  to  throw  away  the  vote  of  his  State  and  leave  the  result  a  tie. 

This  gave  time  for  reflection.  Said  Roger  Sherman,  "  We 
are  now  at  full  stop,  and  nobody  [he  supposed]  meant  that  we 
should  break  up  without  doing  something."  In  the  desultory 
discussion  that  followed,  several  members  suggested  a  committee 
to  devise  some  compromise.  Finally,  the  matter  was  referred 
to  a  Committee  of  Eleven,  one  from  each  State  present.  The 
moderate  men  won  their  victory  in  selecting  the  members  of  this 
committee.  The  most  uncompromising  men  in  this  dispute  had 
been  the  great  leaders  from  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mas 
sachusetts,  —  Madison  and  Randolph,  Wilson  and  Gouverneur 
Morris,  and  Rufus  King.  Desperate  as  the  case  stood,  Madison 
and  Wilson  spoke  against  referring  the  question  to  a  committee 
at  all.  Properly  enough,  these  men  were  all  left  off  the  committee, 
the  places  from  their  States  being  filled  by  those  of  their  col 
leagues  most  in  sympathy  with  small-State  views}  —  Mason,  Frank 
lin,  and  Gerry. 

July  5,  the  committee  reported  once  more  the  Connecticut 
Compromise.  Large-State  leaders  were  still  opposed ;  but, 
after  ten  days  more  of  debate,  the  plan  carried. 

345.  This  "  First  Great  Compromise  of  the  Constitution  "  has 
made  our  government  partly  national,  partly  federal.  Each  citizen 
of  the  United  States  is  subject,  directly,  to  two  distinct  author 
ities, —  the  National1  government  and  a  State  government. 
The  National  government  acts  directly  upon  him,  but  only  within 
a  prescribed  field.  Elsewhere  the  State  retains  complete  author 
ity,  —  as  supreme  within  its  domain  as  the  Central  government 
in  its.  Neither  government  has  any  right  to  trespass  on  the 
field  of  the  other. 

1  For  the  use  of  this  word  here,  see  Exercise  at  the  close  of  chapter  xxxi. 


§  346]  ENUMERATED  POWERS  295 

346.  The  Constitution  tried  to  mark  off  the  two  fields  from  one 
another  by  three  devices :  (1)  by  "  enumerating,"  in  eighteen 
paragraphs  (Art.  I,  sec.  8)  the  powers  given  to  Congress ;  (2) 
by  forbidding  certain  powers  to  the  States  (Art.  I,  sec.  10)  ;  and 
(3)  by  providing  (expressly  in  the  tenth  amendment,  and  by 
implication  throughout)  that  powers  not  granted  to  the  Central 
government  are  reserved  to  the  States.  It  is  customary,  there 
fore,  to  call  our  government  "a  government  of  enumerated 
powers." 

The  Virginia  Plan  contained  no  enumeration  ;  and  when  such  a  device 
was  suggested  in  debate,  it  was  always  postponed  as  impracticable.  The 
New  Jersey  Plan- did  contain  a  brief  enumeration  of  important  powers  ; 
and  a  longer  one  was  included  in  a  plan  presented  early  in  the  debates  by 
Pinckney.  Both  these  plans  were  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Detail. 
Moreover,  Sherman,  speaking  for  the  small  states,  had  presented  a  detailed 
enumeration,  of  which  we  have  no  copy  ;  and  Ellsworth,  Sherman's  col 
league  and  admirer,  was  on  the  committee.  The  report  of  that  committee 
contained  the  enumeration  much  as  we  have  it  to-day. 

The  enumerated  powers  are  vast.  They  include  sole  con 
trol  over  foreign  relations  (with  the  making  of  peace  and  war, 
and  maintaining  armies  and  navies)  ;  and,  in  domestic  matters, 
the  control  of  naturalization,  coinage  and  weights  and  measures, 
the  post  office  and  postal  service,  copyrights  and  patents,  com 
merce  between  citizens  living  in  different  States,  and  taxation 
so  far  as  needful  to  enable  the  Government  to  care  for  all  these 
duties. 

/Still)  these  powers  touch  our  daily  life  less  closely  and  less  vitally 
than  do  the  powers  reserved  to  the  States.  The  State  regulates 
the  franchise  (indirectly,  even  the  Federal  franchise *),  marriage 
and  divorce  and  all  family  relations,  inheritance,  education,  all 
property  and  industrial  conditions  (  except  those  that  may  be 
connected  with  interstate  commerce),  and  all  criminal  law,  as 
well  as  the  powers  of  towns,  counties,  and  other  local  units. 

1  Except  as  certain  provisions  have  been  put  beyond  the  control  of  either 
State  or  Congress  by  the  Fifteenth  Amendment. 


296  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   1787  [§347 

347.  In  a  federal  government  there  is  inevitably  a  constant 
contest  between  the  advocates  of  stronger  central  control  and  the 
upholders  of  the  rights  of  the  States.  In  power,  either  party  is 
apt  to  seek  to  extend  the  province  of  the  government.  In  op 
position,  the  same  party  appeals  to  States  rights,  to  restrict  a 
power  which  seems  dangerous  in  the  hands  of  opponents. 

The  party  anxious  to  limit  the  Central  government  has 
always  sought  to  restrict  it  closely  to  the  "  Enumerated  powers." 
Its  opponents  have  met  this  war  cry  with  the  shibboleth, 
"  Implied  powers."  Under  cover  of  this  phrase  a  vast  develop 
ment  of  National  power  has  taken  place.  Thus  the  Constitu 
tion  gave  Congress  power  to  regulate  interstate  commerce.  To 
the  men  of  that  day,  that  power  meant  only  authority  to  prevent 
one  State  from  setting  up  barriers  against  another's  commerce. 
Under  the  same  phrase  to-day  Congress  regulates  railroad 
freight  rates  on  commerce,  adulteration  of  foods  (character  of 
goods  carried  in  this  commerce),  and  hours  of  child  labor  em 
ployed  in  making  articles  of  commerce. 

This  expansion  of  National  authority  is  essential  to  our  well- 
being.  The  States  are  no  longer  competent  to  manage  these 
common  interests.  Steam  and  electricity,  and  intimate  trade 
relations,  make  many  matters  fit  subjects  for  National  control 
now  which  were  better  off  in  the  hands  of  the  States  a  hundred 
years  ago.  It  would  be  better,  no  doubt,  to  give  such  powers 
distinctly  to  the  Central  government  by  adding  them  to  the 
enumeration  of  powers ;  but  our  Constitution  makes  such 
amendment  exceedingly  difficult,  and  so  it  is  fortunate  that  we 
can  meet  new  needs  as  they  arise  by  even  this  dangerous  pro 
cess  of  "forced  construction"  at  the  hands  of  Congress  and 
the  Supreme  Court.1 


1  "They  [the  men  of  the  Philadelphia  Convention]  foresaw  that  their  work 
would  need  to  be  elucidated  by  judicial  commentary;  but  they  were  far  from 
conjecturing  the  enormous  strain  to  which  some  of  their  expressions  would  be 
subjected  in  the  effort  to  apply  them  to  new  facts.  .  .  .  The  Americans 
have  more  than  once  bent  their  constitution,  that  they  might  not  be  forced  to 
break  it."  —JAMES  BRYCB,  American  Commonwealth. 


§  349]  IMPLIED  POWERS  297 

348.  In  expanding  "  implied  powers,"  two  expressions  in  the 
Constitution  have  been  especially  appealed  to,  —  the  "  general 
welfare  "  clause,  and  the  "  necessary  and  proper  "  clause. 

a.  The  words  "  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare "  occur 
twice,  —  once  in  the  preamble,  once  in  the  first  paragraph  of 
the  enumeration  of  powers.     In  the  preamble  the  clause  could 
not  convey  power ;  and,  moreover,  in  that  connection,  the  words 
are  taken  from  a  similar  passage  in  the  old  Articles  of  Con 
federation.     In  the  other  passage  (Art.  I,  sec.  8),  paragraphing 
and  punctuation  show  beyond  reasonable  dispute  that  "to  ... 
provide  for  the  general  welfare  "  is  not  an  independent  grant 
of  power,  coordinate  with  "  to  lay  taxes,"  or  "  to  coin  money." 
The  infinitive  "to  ...  provide "  is  merely  adverbial,  restrict 
ing  the  meaning  of  the  preceding  infinitive  "  to  lay  .  .  .  taxes." 
This,  too,  is  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  (Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  in  Gibbons  vs.  Ogden). 

Originally,  as  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Detail,  the  passage  read 
merely,  "To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises."  Some 
two  weeks  later  (August  22),  another  committee  suggested  that  this  un 
limited  taxing  power  be  restricted  by  adding  the  words  "for  the  payment 
of  the  debts  and  necessary  expenses  of  the  United  States."  The  Com 
mittee  on  Style  altered  the  form  from  a  prepositional  to  an  infinitive 
phrase,  with  a  slight  change  of  wording. 

b.  In  "  necessary  and  proper,"  "  necessary  "  would  at  first  seem 
to  be  the  stronger  word.     Why  is  "  proper  "  added?     Does  the 
passage  mean  that  a  power  should  not  be  used,  even  if  necessary, 
unless  also  proper  ?     Or  does  "  necessary  "  mean  merely  con 
venient  ?    The  latter  interpretation  has  been  adopted  by  the 
courts.     This  phrase  is  the  true  basis  for  the  growth  of  the  doctrine 
of  implied  powers.1 

349.  The  Convention  decided  without  great  trouble  that  in 
the  first  Congress  the  Representatives  should  be  divided  among 
the  thirteen  States  in  proportion  to  their  population ;  but  Morris 

1  Among  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution,  Mason  and  Gerry  alone  saw 
the  possibilities  of  this  phrase  (Source  Book,  No.  162). 


298 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  1787 


[§350 


and  the  New  Englanders  struggled  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  pro 
portional  representation  as  a  permanent  principle.  After  the 
government  should  once  have  been  instituted,  argued  Morris, 
let  Congress  provide  for  reapportionment  (or  refuse  to  provide 
it)  as  it  might  think  best  from  time  to  time.  His  purpose,  he 
stated  frankly,  was  to  prevent  any  true  reapportionment  so  far 
as  would  concern  new  States  from  the  West.  "  The  new  States 
will  know  less  of  the  public  interest,"  said  he,  and  "  will  not 

be  able  to  furnish  men  equally 
enlightened."  Even  in  the  old 
States,  he  added,  "the  back 
members  [western  members] 
are  always  the  most  averse  to 
the  best  measures."  Several 
other  delegates  urged  that  the 
total  representation  from  new 
States  ought  never  to  exceed  that 
from  the  original  thirteen. 

The  Virginia  delegation 
stood  forth  as  the  champions 
of  the  West.  Mason  argued 
unanswerably  that  both  justice 
and  policy  demanded  that  new 
States  "be  treated  as  equals, 
and  subjected  to  no  degrading 
discriminations."  This  view 
prevailed.  On  motion  of  Ran 
dolph,  the  Constitution  itself 
provides  for  a  census,  and  for  re- 
apportionment,  every  tenth  year. 

350.  Another  sectional  quarrel  grew  out  of  this  question  of 
apportionment.  The  South  wanted  slaves  to  count  as  men. 
Many  Northern  members  were  vehemently  opposed  to  this, 
both  because  of  a  rising  sentiment  against  slavery,  and  because 
they  feared  an  undue  weight  for  the  South  in  Congress.  The 
outcome  was  the  "  Second  Great  Compromise,"  —  the  three  fifths 


GEORGE  MASON.  From  a  picture  in 
Winsor's  Narrative  and  Critical 
History,  based  upon  a  portrait. 


§  352]  SECTIONAL  JEALOUSIES  299 

ratio,  so  that  five  slaves1  should  count  as  three  free  persons  in 
fixing  the  number  of  Eepresentatives  from  a  State. 

351.  The  "Third  Great  Compromise,"   also,   was   concerned 
with  slavery.     New  England  wished  Congress  to  have  power 
over  commerce,  so  that  it  might  encourage  American  shipping 
against  foreign  competition.     The  South  feared  that  Congress, 
with  this  power,  might  tax  the  great  Southern  exports,  cotton, 
rice,  and  tobacco,  or  even  prevent  further  importation  of  slaves. 
Finally   Congress   was   given   power   to   regulate    commerce, 
providing,  however,  (1)  that  it  should  not  tax  exports ;   and 
(2)  that  -it  should  not  forbid  the  importation  of   slaves  for 
twenty  years.2 

352.  The  Judiciary  has  been  called  fitly  "  that  part  of  our 
government  on  which  the  rest  hinges"     (1)  It  decides   contro 
versies  between  States,  and  between  State  and  Nation.     (2)  It 
even  over-rides  Congress.     (3)  Its  life  tenure  makes  it  inde 
pendent  of  control. 

a.  A  final  arbiter  was  needed  somewhere,  in  case  of  conflict 
between  State  and  Nation.  The  Virginia  Plan  gave  the  de 
cision  to  the  Federal  legislature  (§  342).  The  New  Jersey  Plan 
gave  it  to  the  State  judiciaries.  It  was  finally  placed  in  the 
Federal  judiciary  by  a  provision  for  appeals  from  State  courts. 

1  The  Constitution  recognized  slavery  in  several  passages,  but  it  carefully 
avoided  using  the  word. 

2  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  felt  that  they  must  have  more  slaves  to 
develop  their  rice  swamps,  and  made  it  clear  that  they  would  not  come  into 
the  Union  unless  their  interests  in  this  matter  were  guarded.     Virginia, 
Delaware,  and  Maryland  (and  North  Carolina  in  part)  had  already  prohibited 
che  foreign  slave  trade  by  State  laws.    The  most  powerful  advocate  of  national 
prohibition  upon  the  trade  was  George  Mason,  a  great  Virginia  slaveholder. 
He  pointed  out  the  futility  of  State  restrictions,  if  the  great  Northwest  was  to 
be  filled  with  slaves  through  the  ports  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  he 
argued  therefore  that  the  matter  concerned  not  those  States  alone.    "  Slavery," 
he  continued,  "  discourages  arts  and  manufactures.    The  poor  despise  labor 
when  performed  by  slaves.    They  prevent  the  immigration  of  Whites,  who 
really  strengthen  a  country.    They  produce  the  most  pernicious  effect  on 
manners.    Every  master  of  slaves  is  born  a  petty  tyrant.    They  bring  the 
judgment  of  heaven  on  a  country.    As  nations  cannot  bepunished  in  the  next 
world,  they  must  be  in  this." 


300  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   1787  [§  352 

This  provision  was  "the  sleeping  lion  of  the  Constitution."  Its 
importance  seems  not  to  have  been  fully  understood  at  the  time,  even  in 
the  Convention.1  Had  its  bearing  been  comprehended  by  the  people  of 
the  country,  the  Constitution  would  almost  certainly  have  failed  of 
ratification. 

b.  The  power  to  declare  an  Act  of  Congress  void  does  not 
come  from  any  express  provision  of  the  Constitution.  It  is 
based  upon  judicial  custom  in  England  and  America.  Centuries 
before,  in  conflicts  between  king  and  parliament,  English  courts 
had  sometimes  claimed  the  right  to  say  which  authority  should 
prevail.  This  rare  power  of  the  English  judiciary  had  now 
virtually  disappeared,  because  the  English  Eevolution  of  1688 
had  done  away  with  such  conflicts.  Throughout  colonial 
times,  however,  the  English  privy  council,  acting  as  a  court  of 
appeal,  had  voided  Acts  of  colonial  legislatures  which  it  thought 
in  conflict  with  charters  or  with  English  laws.  As  soon  as  the 
colonies  became  States,  the  State  courts  assumed  the  like  right 
to  decide  between  State  legislation  and  more  fundamental  law 
(a  State  constitution,  or  an  ancient  principle  of  the  Common 
law). 

Such  cases  had  been  very  rare; 2  and  outside  the  lawyer  class, 
the  people  resented  the  practice  bitterly.  Even  within  the 
Convention,  some  members  disliked  it ;  but  they  understood 
clearly  that  the  Federal  courts  would  test  Federal  legislation 
by  comparing  it  with  the  Constitution,  and  would  void  such 
acts  as  were  "  plainly  "  unconstitutional. 

Since  that  time,  however,  the  power  has  been  extended,  both  by 

1  For  the  history  of  the  clause,  see  West's  American  History  and  Govern 
ment,  §  207. 

2  In  New  Jersey,  in  1780,  the  highest  court  declared  an  act  of  the  legislature 
void  because  inconsistent  with  the  State  Constitution  ("  Holmes  vs.  Walton  ") 
and  three  of  the  New  Jersey  delegates  at  Philadelphia  had  been  connected 
with  the  case,  on  the  bench  or  as  counsel.    There  was  a  like  decision  in 
Virginia  in  1782,  and  an  opinion  to  the  same  effect  from  the  North  Carolina 
court  just  as  the  Philadelphia  Convention  was  gathering.    The  Khode  Island 
case  has  been  described  (§  327).     These  seem  to  be  the  only  instances  from  1776 
to  1787.    But  in  one  year  recently  (1906)  101  State  laws  were  declared  uncon 
stitutional  by  supreme  courts,  State  or  Federal. 


§  352]  POWER  OF  THE   COURTS  301 

Federal  and  State  courts,  to  a  degree  undreamed  in  1787  by 
its  most  ardent  champions.1  Especially  has  this  been  true  of  the 
Federal  Supreme  Court,  which,  because  of  its  life  tenure,  has 
been  more  independent  of  public  opinion  than  State  Courts 
have  been.  Through  this  development,  the  Supreme  Court  has 
become  not  merely  the  "  guardian  "  of  the  Constitution,  but  also 
the  chief  "  amender  "  of  the  Constitution. 

c.  Life  tenure.  Hamilton  and  his  group  failed  to  get  life 
tenure  for  President  and  Senate ;  but  they  did  get  it  for  the 
judiciary.  In  early  English  history,  the  judges  had  been  re 
movable  at  the  king's  pleasure.  The  Stuart  tyrants  abused  this 
power  and  debased  the  courts  into  servile  tools.  Therefore 
the  English  Revolution  (1688)  provided  that  judges  should  be 
removed  only  "  on  address."  That  is,  a  judge  held  for  life,  un 
less  two  thirds  of  parliament  voted  that  he  should  be  re 
moved.  For  such  vote,  however,  no  formal  trial  was  neces 
sary,  nor  even  formal  charges  of  wrongdoing.  English  courts 
were  made  dependent  upon  the  approval  of  parliament. 

But  the  Federal  Constitution  gave  the  courts  a  tenure  more 
independent  than  had  ever  been  known  in  England.  Federal 
judges  hold  "  during  good  behavior/7  and  can  be  removed,  not 
by  address,  but  only  by  impeachment,  —  i.e.  conviction  for  "trea 
son,  bribery,  or  other  high  crime  or  misdemeanor,"  by  a  tivo-thirds 
vote  of  the  Senate,  after  legal  trial  upon  specific  charges.  With 
out  affording  any  opening  for  such  charges,  the  judiciary  may 
thwart  the  popular  will  and  the  will  of  every  other  branch  of 
the  government  for  years. 

In  the  Federalist,  Hamilton  argued  that  in  giving  judges  tenure  for  life, 
the  Constitution  merely  followed  the  laudable  practice  of  England,  whose 
courts  were  recognized  as  models  for  learning  and  impartiality.  This 
argument  took  no  account  of  the  tremendous  difference  between  removal 
"on  address"  and  removal  only  on  "impeachment."  In  England  the 
courts  had  been  made  independent  of  the  irresponsible  monarch,  but  only 
by  bringing  them  into  close  dependence  upon  the  popular  branch  of  the 

1  This  peculiar  American  power  of  the  courts  is  not  a  necessary  accompani 
ment  of  a  written  constitution.  It  is  not  found  in  any  of  the  European  repub 
lics  with  written  constitutions. 


302  THE  CONSTITUTION   OF   1787  [§  353 

government.    In  America,  as  Jefferson  said,  "  we  have  made  them  inde 
pendent  of  the  nation  itself." 

353.  The  men  of  the  Convention  meant  to  establish  a  true  elec 
toral  college  to  choose  the  President.     They  thought  they  had 
done  so ;   and  they  prided  themselves  particularly  upon  this 
part  of  their  work.     They  supposed  there  would  be  chosen  in 
each  State  a  select  body  of  men,  of  high  social  standing  and 
large  property,  and  that  these  several  bodies  would  choose  a 
chief  executive  after  calm  deliberation. 

But  the  growth  of  sentiment  for  popular  government,  to 
gether  with  the  development  of  party  nominations  (§  390),  has 
made  the  electoral  college  obsolete.  The  form,  indeed,  sur 
vives.  Technically  each  "elector"  is  still  at  liberty  to  vote 
his  private  choice  for  President  and  to  change  his  mind,  before 
voting,  as  often  as  he  likes.  But,  in  reality,  each  "  elector  "  is 
chosen  to  vote  for  a  particular  candidate ;  and  unwritten  law 
makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  think  of  doing  otherwise.  The 
"  electors  "  have  been  transformed  into  "  mere  letter  carriers." 
The  voter  rarely  reads  their  names  on  the  tickets. 

354.  Eighteenth  century  liberals  believed  in  "  checks  and  bal 
ances"  in  government.     In   England,  before   the   year  1400, 
centuries  of  struggle  against  an  irresponsible  monarchy  had 
built  into  the  "constitution"  a  system  of  reciprocal  checks. 
No  one  part  of  the  government  —  king,  lords,  or  commons  — 
could  do  anything  of  consequence  against  the  determined  op 
position  of  any  other  part.     This  elaborate  system  of  balances 
had  been  a  victory  for  freedom ;  and  it  came  to  be  looked  upon 
as  a  necessary  feature  of  free  government.     After  the  publica 
tion  of  Blackstone's  law  writings  (1770),  the  "  separation  of 
powers"  (i.e.  the  reciprocal  independence  of  executive,  legis 
lative,  and  judicial  departments)  became  almost  an  axiom  in 
English  political  thought.1 

1  Nearly  two  thousand  years  before,  Aristotle  had  argued  for  such  a  "  sep 
aration,"  as  a  defense  against  tyranny.  In  1748,  the  French  writer,  Montes 
quieu,  in  The  Spirit  of  Laws,  gave  the  doctrine  wide  popularity.  For  a 
curious  attempt  to  apply  the  principle  in  France,  cf .  Modern  World,  §  598. 


§  355]  PROTECTION  FOR  PROPERTY  303 

In  reality,  however,  as  we  can  now  see,  English  practice  by 
1787  was  already  a  century  ahead  of  the  doctrine.  The  Revolu 
tion  of  1688  had  made  the  popular  branch  of  the  government 
supreme,  except  for  a  modified  veto  by  the  Lords.  The  sys 
tem  of  "  checks  "  had  practically  disappeared  in  England  (in 
favor  of  a  truer  democracy),  when  it  was  adopted,  in  most 
elaborate  form,  in  this  American  Constitution.  Moreover, 
while  in  England  it  had  been  originally  devised  as  a  protection 
against  an  arbitrary  monarch,  it  was  adopted  in  America  mainly 
as  a  protection  against  a  "  turbulent  people." 

The  "balances"  in  the  Constitution  have  sometimes  usefully  made  for 
stability,  but  they  have  also  often  produced  harmful  deadlocks.  When 
the  people,  after  a  long  campaign,  have  deliberately  chosen  a  House  of 
Representatives  to  carry  out  their  settled  policy,  they  often  have  to  wait 
two  years  to  get  around  a  Presidential  veto,  and  perhaps  two  years  or 
four  years  more  before  they  have  a  chance  to  change  a  hostile  hold-over 
majority  in  the  Senate.  Even  then,  a  Supreme  Court,  by  a  vote  perhaps 
of  five  to  four,  may  nullify  the  popular  will  for  a  generation  longer.  And 
all  this  says  nothing  of  the  almost  insuperable  difficulty  of  amending  the 
Constitution  itself,  when  the  Nation  may  wish  to  change  some  provision 
in  that  ancient  document  devised  by  men  of  other  times  and  designed  for 
other  conditions  than  those  of  our  day. 

355.  Repeatedly  the  Convention  refused  to  entertain  a  mo 
tion  for  a  bill  of  rights  for  men ; x  but,  besides  the  guardian 
ship  for  wealth  expected  from  Senate,  President,  and  Supreme 
Court,  it  inserted  two  express  provisions  to  shield  property. 
(1)  Even  the  Federal  government  can  take  private  property 
only  "  by  due  process  of  law,"  —  i.e.  through  the  decision  of  a 
court  after  judicial  trial ;  and  (2)  the  /States  are  forbidden  to 
pass  any  law  "impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts."  By 
reason  of  these  clauses,  says  President  Hadley  of  Yale,  prop 
erty  interests  in  America  are  "  in  a  stronger  position  against  any 

1  Articles  IV  and  VI  of  the  Constitution,  it  is  true,  do  contain  some  essential 
provisions  of  a  bill  of  rights, — the  strict  definition  of  treason  as  compared 
with  the  meaning  of  that  term  in  many  other  countries;  the  prohibition 
against  ex  post  facto  laws  and  bills  of  attainder ;  and  the  restriction  upon 
suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 


304  THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   1787  [§  356 

attempt  at  government  control "  than  they  are  in  any  European 
country.     (In  The  Independent,  April  16,  1908.) 

•  President  Hadley  points  out  that  the  first  provision  has  re 
sulted  in  "  preventing  a  majority  of  the  voters,  acting  in  the 
legislature  or  through  the  courts  (the  convenient  European 
methods),  from  correcting  evils  in  railroad  building  or  factory 
operation  until  the  stockholders  or  owners  have  had  opportunity 
to  have  the  case  tried  in  the  courts " ;  and,  as  the  same  article 
makes  plain,  the  courts  have  usually  been  inclined  to  favor  the 
vested  property  interests. 

The  pernicious  results  of  the  second  provision  could  not  well 
have  been  foreseen.  They  have  come  about  through  a  remark 
able  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  (the  Dartmouth  College 
Case,  1819),  extending  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  contract "  to 
include  even  the  grants  of  privilege  and  power  made  by  a  State 
itself  to  public-service  corporations.  As  a  consequence,  many 
such  corporations  have  been  inviolably  intrenched,  for  an  in 
definite  period,1  in  special  privileges  which  they  got  from  cor 
rupt  legislatures  and  for  which  they  give  no  fit  return  to  society. 

In  the  hundred  years  from  1803  to  1903,  the  Supreme  Court  declared 
two  hundred  State  laws  unconstitutional.  Fifty-seven  of  these  were 
voided  on  the  ground  that  they  impaired  the  obligation  of  some  "  con 
tract."  Most  of  these  had  aimed  solely  at  needful  regulation  of  great 
corporations  in  the  interest  of  social  well-being,  —  such  legislation  as  is 
common  in  European  democracies'like  England  or  France  or  Switzerland. 

356.  The  Convention  would  have  liked  a  much  more  aris 
tocratic  Constitution ;  but  the  members  saw  that  if  the  Con 
stitution  were  clearly  less  democratic  than  a  given  State 
constitution,  it  would  be  hard  to  secure  ratification  in  that 

1  According  to  the  spirit  of  this  decision,  unless  the  State  has  limited  the 
lifetime  of  a  grant,  or  has  expressly  reserved  its  own  right  to  change  the  grant 
at  will,  the  grant  runs  forever.  In  recent  years,  the  States  have  in  great 
measure  guarded  themselves  against  such  danger  for  the  future  by  expressly 
reserving  their  right  to  modify  all  such  grants.  A  recent  amendment  to  the 
constitution  of  Wisconsin  runs :  "  All  acts  [dealing  with  corporations]  may  be 
altered  and  repealed  by  the  legislature  at  any  time."  This  provision,  now, 
is  a  part  of  the  "  contract "  when  the  Wisconsin  legislature  grants  a  franchise. 


§  356]  THE  RIGHT   TO  VOTE  305 

State.  It  was  not  going  to  be  easy  to  get  States  enough  at 
best.  And  so  we  owe  such  democratic  character  as  the  Constitu 
tion  has,  in  great  degree,  to  the  relatively  unknown  men,  who, 
ten  years  before,  framed  the  Revolutionary  State  constitutions. 

This  was  shown  in  the  settlement  of  the  franchise.  The 
House  of  Representatives  was  the  only  part  of  the  government 
left  to  be  chosen  directly  by  "the  people."  But  who  were 
"  the  people  "  in  this  political  sense  ?  Hamilton,  Morris,  and 
Dickinson  strove  earnestly  to  limit  the  franchise  to  freeholders, 
—  so  as  to  exclude  "those  multitudes  without  property  and 
without  principle,  with  whom  our  country,  like  all  others,  will, 
in  time,  abound."  *  Even  Madison  expressed  himself  as  theo 
retically  in  favor  of  such  restriction,  fearing  that  a  property- 
less  majority  would  either  plunder  the  rich  or  become  the 
tools  of  an  aristocracy.  Franklin  argued  vigorously  against 
the  restriction,  urging  the  educational  value  of  the  franchise 
for  the  masses ;  and  George  Mason,  in  the  language  of  his  bill 
of  rights  of  1776,  declared,  "  The  true  idea  is  that  every  man 
having  evidence  of  attachment  to  the  community,  and  perma 
nent  common  interest  with  it,  ought  to  share  in  all  its  rights 
and  privileges."  2  But  the  defeat  of  the  restriction  was  due  not 
to  these  lonely  champions,  but  to  the  reminder  that  in  more  than 
half  the  States  the  State  franchise  was  already  wider  than  land- 
holding,  and  that  no  voter  could  be  expected  to  favor  a  Con 
stitution  that  would  disfranchise  him  in  the  Federal  government. 
The  provision  finally  adopted,  therefore,  aimed  to  keep  the 
franchise  as  restricted  as  was  compatible  with  probable  ratifi 
cation.  The  Federal  franchise  was  to  be  no  wider  in  any  State 
than  the  State  franchise  in  that  State. 

This  arrangement  has  worked,  unexpectedly,  for  democracy. 
TJie  States,  acting  one  by  one,  modified  their  constitutions  in  the 
direction  of  democracy  faster  than  one  great  unit  like  the  Nation 
could  have  done;  and  as  any  State  extended  its  own  franchise, 
so  far  it  extended  also  the  Federal  franchise. 

1  These  words  are  Dickinson's,  but  the  sentiment  was  general. 

2  Cf .  Source  Book,  No.  136,  and  comment. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 
RATIFICATION 

357.  The  "  two  critical  decisions "  of  the  Convention  were : 
(1)  to  substitute  a  new  plan  of  government,  —  instead  of  trying 
merely  to  "  patch  up "  the  old  constitution ;   and  (2)  to  put 
that  new  government  into  operation  when  it  should  be  accepted  by 
nine  States,  without  waiting  for  all  of  them. 

The  last  decision  was  directly  contrary  to  instructions  from 
the  State  legislatures  which  had  appointed  the  delegates.  It 
was  also  in  conflict  with  a  specific  provision  in  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  —  to  which  the  States  had  solemnly  pledged 
"their  sacred  faith"  (§§330,  331, c).  But  men  had  come  to 
see  that  America  must  either  strangle  in  the  grip  of  the  old 
constitution,  or  she  must  break  its  bonds.  Constitutional 
remedy  had  proved  impossible.  Wisely  and  patriotically  the 
Convention  recommended  an  unconstitutional  remedy,  and  the 
country  adopted  it.  The  ratification  of  the  Constitution  was  a 
peaceful  revolution.  A  friendly  looker-on  wrote  :  — 

"  Here,  too,  I  saw  some  pretty  shows  :  a  revolution  without  blows  : 
For,  as  I  understood  the  cunning  elves,  the  people  all  revolted  from 
themselves." 

358.  When  Congress  received  the  Constitution,  it  recom 
mended  the  State  legislatures  to  call   State   conventions   to 
accept  or  reject  it.     The  contest  was  now  transferred  from 
Philadelphia  to  the  country  at  large,  and  in  every  State  men 
'divided    into    parties.      The    advocates    of    the    "new    roof" 
shrewdly  took  to  themselves  the  name  Federalists,1  instead  of 

1  Luther  Martin  of  Maryland  was  one  of  the  delegates  who  withdrew  from 
the  Philadelphia  Convention  toward  its  close.  In  a  letter  to  his  legislature, 
justifying  his  action,  he  explains  that  the  Convention  had  voted  down  a  reso 
lution  for  a  "  federal "  form  of  government  and  instead  had  adopted  a  resolu- 

306 


§  360]  DEMOCRATIC   OBJECTIONS  307 

the  unpopular  term  Nationalists,  and  so  left  to  their  opponents 
only  the  weak  appellation  Anti federalists.  A.  torrent  of  pam 
phlets  and  newspaper  articles  issued  from  the  press,1  and 
every  crossroads  was  a  stage  for  vehement  oratory. 

359.  The  proposed  Constitution  was  attacked  partly  for  its 
encroachments  on  the  States,  partly  for  its  undemocratic  features. 
Opponents  pointed  to  the  absence  of  a  bill  of  rights,  and  to 
the  infrequency  of  elections,  and  to  the  vast  powers  of  the 
President  and  Senate  (parts  of  the  government  remote  from 
popular  control).     George  Mason  asserted  that  such  a  Consti 
tution  "  must  end  either  in  monarchy  or  tyrannical  aristocracy"; 
and  a  sarcastic  democrat,  claiming  to  be  a  Turk,  praised  the 
Constitution  for  "  its  resemblance  to  our  much  admired  Sub 
lime  Porte." 

TJie  real  source  of  apprehension,  however,  was  not  any  specific 
provision  in  the  document  so  much  as  a  vague  distrust  of  the 
aristocratic  Convention.2  Many  people  believed  sincerely  that 
the  meeting  at  Philadelphia  had  been  a  "  deep  and  dark  con 
spiracy  against  the  liberties  of  a  free  people."  Thus  "  John 
Humble  "  ironically  exhorted  his  fellow  "  low-born,"  dutifully 
to  allow  the  few  "  well-born "  to  set  up  their  "  Divine  Con 
stitution  "  and  rule  the  country. 

360.  Still  both  parties  had  to  admit  the  seriousness  of  the  ex 
isting  situation.   The  Antifederalists  had  no  remedy  to  propose. 
The  Federalists  offered  one  for  which  they  claimed  no  -peculiar 

tion  for  a  "national  government":  "Afterwards  the  word  'national'  was 
struck  out  by  them,  because  they  thought  the  word  might  tend  to  alarm ;  and 
although  now  they  who  advocate  this  system  pretend  to  call  themselves  fed 
eralists,  in  Convention  the  distinction  was  quite  the  reverse.  Those  who 
opposed  the  system  were  there  considered  and' styled  the  federal  party ,  those 
who  advocated  it,  the  antifederal."  —  ELLIOT'S  Debates,  I,  362. 

1  One  set  of  such  essays  appeared  week  after  week  in  New  York  papers 
under  the  title  The  Federalist.    They  were  written  by  Hamilton,  Madison, 
and  Jay,  and  were  soon  republished  in  book  form.    They  remain  the  most 
famous  commentary  on  the  Constitution. 

2  Cf.  Source  Book,  No.  160,  for  the  large  proportion  of  delegates  at  Phila 
delphia  who  seem  to  have  had  little  special  qualification  except  that  they  were 
"gentlemen  of  good  birth  and  large  fortune."    And  cf.  also  No.  152. 


308        RATIFICATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION      [§  361 

excellence,  but  which,  they  urged,  did  offer  escape  from  an 
archy,  —  probably  the  only  escape  likely  to  be  available.  Under 
such  pressure,  many  a  naming  Antifederalist,  elected  to  a  State 
convention  expressly  to  reject  the  Constitution,  came  over  to 
its  support.1 

361.  The  Constitution  was  sent  forth  September  17,  1787.  A 
strenuous  nine-months'  campaign  brought  it  a  bare  victory. 
Organized  and  ready,  the  Federalists  at  first  carried  all  before 
them,  securing  ratification  during  December  and  January  in 
Delaware,  New  Jersey,  Georgia,  Connecticut,  and,  after  a  bitter 
struggle,  in  Pennsylvania.  Somewhat  later,  Maryland  and 
South  Carolina  were  added  to  the  list. 

The  remaining  States  long  remained  doubtful  or  opposed. 
North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island  refused  to  ratify.  They 
could  be  spared,  —  as  perhaps  New  Hampshire  could  have 
been ; 2  but  a  failure  in  Massachusetts,  New  York,  or  Virginia 
would  almost  surely  have  queered  the  whole  movement.  In 
all  three  of  these  States  (as  probably  in  most  of  the  others)  a 
direct  vote  of  the  people  would  certainly  have  rejected  the 
Constitution.3  Even  in  the  conventions,  there  was  at  first  a 
strong  hostile  majority  in  each  of  these  three ;  and,  after  the 
many  weeks  of  argument  and  persuasion,  to  have  defeated  rati 
fication  would  have  required  in  the  final  vote  a  change  in 
Massachusetts  of  only  10  votes  out  of  355  ;  in  Virginia,  of  only 
5  out  of  168 ;  and  in  New  York,  of  2  out  of  57.  And  the  slim 
majorities  for  the  Constitution  were  obtained  only  by  pledges 

1  More  personal  arguments  were  not  neglected.    In  Massachusetts  the  Fed 
eralists  brought  over  Hancock  by  promising  him  a  reelection  as  governor  and 
perhaps  implying  that  he  should  be  the  first  Vice-President  of  the  new  govern 
ment  (Source  Book,  No.  164). 

2  In  New  Hampshire  a  hostile  convention  had  adjourned  for  some  months. 

3  The  Rhode  Island  legislature,  instead  of  calling  a  convention,  distributed 
copies  of  the  Constitution  among  the  voters  and  provided  for  a  direct  popular 
vote.    The  Federalists,  certain  of  defeat,  declaimed  against  this  method  as 
improper,  and  remained  away  from  the  polls.    The  vote  stood  2708  to  232. 
Two  years  later,  a  convention  accepted  the  Constitution  34  to  32.    In  general, 
the  commercial  centers  favored  th«  Constitution,  while  the  agricultural  and 
western  sections  opposed  it. 


§362]  THE  NINE  MONTHS'  CAMPAIGN  309 

from  the  Federalists  that  they  would  join  in  getting  certain 
desired  amendments  as  soon  as  the  new  government  should  be 
in  operation. 

The  New  Hampshire  convention  changed  its  mind,  and 
ratified  on  June  15,  1788  (making  the  ninth  State) ;  but  the 
absolutely  essential  accession  of  Virginia  did  not  take  place 

Eighth  Federal   PILLAR  reared 


From  the  Boston  Independent  Chronicle,  June  12,  1788.1 

until  June  25, —  just  in  time  for  the  news  to  reach  the  North 
for  the  Fourth  of  July  celebrations.2  New  York's  ratification 
came  later. 

{The,  rest  of  this  chapter  is  to  be  talked  over  by  the  class  with 
.    books  open.~] 

362.  Excursus :  "  We  the  People." — Who  ratified  the  Consti 
tution  ?  The  several  States,  as  States  ?  Or  one  consolidated 
people  ? 

The  second  view  rests  wholly  on  the  opening  words  of  the 
preamble  :  "  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States  ...  do  ordain 
and  establish  this  constitution."  Merely  as  language,  tljese 

1  The  Chronicle  guessed  wrong  as  to  the  order  of  the  approaching  ratifica 
tion.    See  text. 

2  At  Albany,  on  the  Fourth,  the  news  caused  the  wildest  excitement.    The 
Federalists  celebrated  by  firing  ten  guns  for  the  new  government.    The  Antis 
retorted  with  thirteen  guns  for  the  Confederation,  which,  they  claimed,  was 
still  the  constitutional  government.     Afterwards,  they  made  a  bonfire  of  a 
copy  of  the  new  Constitution  and  of  the  handbills  announcing  Virginia's 
ratification.    In  the  ashes,  the  rallied  Federalists  planted  a  lofty  pole  with 
another  copy  of  the  Constitution  nailed  to  the  top,  and  in  the  riot  that  fol 
lowed,  knives  were  used  and  some  blood  was  shed.    In  Pennsylvania  more 
serious  riots  took  place, — if  less  picturesque,  —  with  participation  by  militia 
and  cannon. 


310         RATIFICATION   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION      [§  362 

words  have  no  more  value  than  the  Fifth  Article  of  the  Consti 
tution,  which  says  twice  that  the  ratifying  parties  are  the 
States :  and  such  slight  significance  as  the  preamble  might 
otherwise  have,  disappears  upon  tracing  its  history. 

The  preamble  appeared  first  in  the  report  of  the  Committee 
of  Detail ;  but  it  then  read  "  We,  the  people  of  the  States  of 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  [and  so  on 
through  the  list]  do  ordain,"  etc.  Plainly,  this  did  not  mean  a 
consolidated  nation.  It  meant  thirteen  peoples,  each  acting 
directly,  not  through  legislatures.  The  Convention  accepted  this 
wording  without  debate. 

Almost  at  the  close  of  the  Convention,  the  Committee  on 
Style  changed  the  words  to  their  present  form.  No  explana 
tion  was  ever  made  by  a  member  of  the  Convention  for  the 
change,  but  it  explains  itself.  The  Convention  had  now  decided 
to  put  the  new  government  into  operation  between  the  first  nine 
States  ratifying.  It  was  impossible  to  name  these  in  advance, 
and  it  would  be  highly  improper  to  name  any  which  might  not 
come  in  ;  so  all  names  were  dropped  out.  No  change  of  meaning 
was  designed.  The  new  form,  like  the  first,  was  accepted  without 
debate. 

Outside  the  Convention,  however,  this  was  at  first  not  under 
stood  ;  and  States-rights  men  feared  that  the  wording  did  mean 
a  consolidated  people,  —  until  Madison  assured  them  that  it  did 
not.  Samuel  Adams  wrote  to  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  "  I  stumble 
at  the  threshold."  And  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  Patrick 
Henry  exclaimed,  — "  What  right  had  they  to  say,  '  We,  the 
people '  .  .  .  instead,  of  '  We,  the  States '  ?  If  the  States  be 
not  the  parties  to  this  compact,  it  must  be  one  great  consoli 
dated  national  government  of  the  people  of  all  the  States." 

Madison  ariswered :  "  Who  are  the  parties  ?     The  people ; l 

1  The  writer  once  heard  a  Federal  judge,  in  a  public  address,  quote  this 
far,  and  stop  here,  to  prove  that  Madison  taught  the  doctrine  of  ratification 
by  a  consolidated  nation.  Horace  Greeley's  Great  American  Conflict  (I,  81) 
contains  a  similar  misrepresentation  of  the  record.  After  quoting  Henry's 
objections,  with  specific  page  reference  to  the  records  of  the  Virginia  con- 


§362]  "  WE   THE   PEOPLE'*  311 

but  not  the  people  as  composing  one  great  body :  the  people  as 
composing  thirteen  sovereignties"  Otherwise, he  adds  in  proof, 
a  majority  would  bind  all  the  States  ;  "but,  sir,  no  State  is 
bound,  as  it  is,  without  its  own  consent."  And  he  went  on  to 
explain  that  the  words  mean  only  that  in  each  State  the  people 
were  to  act  in  the  most  solemn  way,  not  merely  through  the 
usual  legislative  channel. 

Madison  amplified  this  last  thought  in'the  Federalist  (No.  39):  Ratifi 
cation  "is  to  be  given  by  the  people,  not  as  individuals,  but  as  composing 
the  distinct  and  independent  States  to  which  they  respectively  belong.  It 
is  the  assent  and  ratification  of  the  several  States,  derived  from  the 
Supreme  authority  in  each  State,  —  the  authority  of  the  people  themselves 
[not  merely  from  the  subordinate  authority  of  the  State  legislature]  .  .  . 
Each  State,  in  ratifying  the  Constitution,  is  considered  as  a  sovereign 
body,  independent  of  all  others,  and  only  to  be  bound  by  its  own  vol 
untary  act." 

This  answer  of  Madison  was  final  at  the  time.  But  thirty 
years  later,  the  doctrine  of  ratification  by  a  consolidated  people 
was  revived  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  It  was  soon  given 
added  emphasis  by  the  massive  and  patriotic  oratory  of  Daniel 
Webster,  and  the  idea  took  its  place  in  the  mind  of  the  North 
as  an  essential  article  in  the  creed  of  patriotism.  The  plain 
historical  fact,  however,  is  that  the  thirteen  States,  looking 
upon  themselves  as  thirteen  distinct  sovereignties,  and  feeling 
absolutely  free  either  to  accept  or  reject  the  Constitution,  did 
decide  to  accept  it,  —  and,  by  so  doing,  made  possible  the 
future  develojjment  of  one  nation.  Says  William  McDonald 
(Jacksonian  Democracy,  109,  110):  — 

"Webster's  doctrine  of  'the  people'  was  a  glorious  fiction.  It  has 
entered  into  the  warp  and  woof  of  our  constitutional  creed  ;  but  it  was 
fiction,  nevertheless.  .  .  .  If  anything  is  clear  in  the  history  of  the  United 

vention,  Greeley  continues,  without  page  reference  of  course-,  —  "  These  cavilers 
were  answered  frankly  and  firmly,  It  is  the  work  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  as  distinguished  from  the  States  in  their  primary  and  sovereign 
capacity,  and  why  should  not  the  fact  be  truly  stated."  Of  course,  this  is 
"  newspaper  history."  That  was  the  way  Greeley  thought  Henry  ought  to 
have  been  answered.  The  answer  actually  given  was  the  precise  opposite. 


312         RATIFICATION   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION      [§  362 

States,  it  is  that  the  Constitution  was  established  by  the  States,  acting 
through  conventions  authorized  by  the  legislatures  thereof,  and  not  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  in  any  such  sense  as  Webster  had  in  mind." 
.  .  .  No  theory  could  have  a  slighter  foundation. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  — The  story  of  the  struggle  for  a  new  consti 
tution  should  be  read  if  possible  either  in  Fiske's  Critical  Period  or  in 
McLaughlin's  Confederation  and  Constitution  (chs.  iii-vi  and  ix-xv). 

EXERCISE. —  The  constitution  in  the  Appendix  should -be  read  in  class 
and  talked  over  at  this  stage.  Reread  §§324,  330-332,  on  the  weak 
nesses  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  find  in  the  Constitution  the 
clauses  that  remedy  each  of  those  weaknesses. 

The  clever  use  of  the  word  federal  by  the  Nationalists  has  made  much 
trouble  for  students.  The  proper  name  for  our  government  and  for  its 
branches,  down  to  the  Civil  War,  is  "Federal,"  not  "National,"  — 
Federal  government,  federal  judiciary,  and  so  on.  But  to  guard  against 
still  more  confusing  errors,  it  seems  necessary  at  times,  even  for  the  early 
period,  to  use  the  term  National,  as  in  §  345. 


PART   VI 

FEDERALIST  ORGANIZATION 


CHAPTER   XXXII 
GROWTH  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

363.  SEPTEMBER  13,  1788,  the  dying  Continental  Congress  pro 
vided  for  elections  under  the  new  Constitution.     Nine  States 
were  present  when  that  vote  was  taken.     A  week  later,  the 
attendance  had  sunk  to  six  States.     Thereafter,  to  keep  up  a 
shadow  of  government,  a  few  delegates  met  day  by  day,  had 
their  names  recorded  in  the  journal,  and  then  adjourned  to 
some  favorite  tavern.     Congress  expired  for  want  of  a  quorum 
seven  months  before  the  new  government  was  organized. 

364.  The   elections   that   made   Washington  President  were 
very  different  from  elections  in  a  presidential  campaign  now.     In 
six  States  —  out  of  the  ten1  that  took  part  —  the  legislatures 
chose  the  presidential  electors.     Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia  chose  them  by  popular  vote,  in  districts.    Massachusetts 
used  a  quaint  union  of  these  two  methods.2     In  no  State  did  the 
people  elect  directly,  on  one  general  ticket,  as  is  almost  always 
done  to-day. 

365.  Two  legislatures  gave  forceful  illustrations  of  the  bitter 
ness  of  party  spirit  and  of  disregard  of  the  people's  will  by 
"  delegated  "  government.     In  elections  by  legislatures,  custom 

1  Account  for  the  other  three  States—  with  the  help  of  the  section  helow. 

2  The  people  in  each  Congressional  district  nominated  three  electors,  from 
whom  the  legislature  chose  one  —  with  two  more  at  large  to  make  up  the 
proper  number, 

313 


314 


FEDERALIST   ORGANIZATION 


[§  366 


favored  a  joint  ballot  (the  two  Houses  voting  as  one  body)  ;  and 
this  method  was  used  without  question  in  five  States  which 
chose  electors  by  legislatures.  But  in  New  Hampshire,  the 
upper  House  was  Federalist,  while  the  more  numerous  and 
more  representative  lower  House  was  Antifederalist.  The 
Senate  insisted  upon  election  by  concurrent  vote  —  as  ordinary 

bills  are  passed  —  so  that 
it  might  have  a  veto  on 
the  other  House.  The 
wrangle  lasted  for  weeks. 
At  the  last  moment,  the 
larger  House  surrendered, 
and  chose  electors  accept 
able  to  the  smaller  one. 

In  New  Yorkjthe  situa 
tion  was  similar;  but 
there  the  Antifederalist 
House  refused  to  yield  its 
right.  So  that  State  lost 
its  vote. 

366.  There  had  been  no 
formal  nominations.  Wash 
ington  received  the  69 
votes  cast  for  President. 
For  Vice  President  there 
was  no  such  agreement. 
Some  of  the  Antifederal- 


GEOBGE  WASHINGTON.  From  a  portrait 
by  Peale,  now  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Academy,  Philadelphia.  Washington  was 
president  of  the  Federal  Convention  and 
exercised  great  influence  in  that  body, 
though  he  made  no  formal  speech  in  its 
sessions. 


ists  hoped  to  elect  George 
Clinton  of  New  York,  Hamilton's  chief  adversary  there ;  but 
the  plan  fell  to  pieces  when  New  York  failed  to  take  part  in  the 
election.  Eleven  names  were  voted  for  by  the  69  electors.  John 
Adams  was  elected,  but  by  only  34  votes,  —  one  less  than  half.1 
367.  The  Continental  Congress  had  named  the  first  Wednes 
day  in  March  for  the  inauguration  of  the  new  government  at 


1  Such  a  vote  would  not  elect  to-day.     Why  did  it  then  ? 


§  368]  THE    STRUGGLE   FOR   SIMPLICITY  315 

New  York  City.  On  that  day,  however,  only  8  Senators  (out 
of  22)  and  13  Representatives  (out  of  59)  had  arrived ;  and  the 
electoral  votes  could  not  be  counted.  The  two  Houses  met  from 
day  to  day,  for  roll  call,  and  sent  occasional  urgent  entreaties 
to  dilatory  members  in  neighboring  States ;  but  not  till  almost 
five  weeks  later  (April  6)  was  the  necessary  quorum  secured. 
On  April  30,  Washington  was  inaugurated  with  great  state 
and  solemnity.  It  helps  us  to  understand  one  reason  for  these 
delays  when  we  remember  that  Washington,  now  nearly  sixty 
years  old,  had  to  make  the  journey  from  Mount  Vernon  to 
New  York  on  horseback. 

368.  For  nearly  three  weeks,  Congress  wrangled  over  matters 
of  ceremony.  After  solemn  deliberation,  the  Senate  recom 
mended  that  Washington  be  styled  "  His  Highness,  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Protector  of  the  Lib 
erties  of  the  Same."  The  more  democratic  Representatives  in 
sisted  on  giving  only  the  title  used  in  the  Constitution  — 
"  President  of  the  United  States."  Finally  this  House  sent  an 
address  to  Washington  by  this  title  ;  and  the  Senate  had  to  lay 
aside  its  tinsel. 

During  the  debate,  one  particularly  quaint  episode  occurred. 
The  Senate  minutes  referred  to  the  speech  with  which  Wash 
ington  had  "  opened  "  Congress  as  "  His  most  gracious  speech." 
This  was  the  form  always  used  in  the  English  parliament  re 
garding  the  speech  from  the  Throne.  Senator  Maclay  objected 
to  the  phrase,  and  finally  it  was  struck  from  the  record.  Vice 
President  Adams,  however,  defended  it  hotly,  declaring  (ac 
cording  to  Maclay)  that  if  he  could  have  foreseen  such  agita 
tion,  he  "  would  never  have  drawn  his  sword  "  against  England 
in  the  Revolution. 

Maclay  tells  1  us,  too,  that  Adams  (presiding  in  the  Senate) 

1  The  Journal  of  William  Maclay  is  a  curious  work  which  should  be  ac 
cessible  to  every  student  of  this  period.  Maclay,  from  Pennsylvania,  was  one 
of  the  few  democratic  Senators.  He  was  an  honest,  well-meaning,  rather 
suspicious  man,  without  breadth  of  view,  or  social  graces,  but  with  an  ardent 
belief  in  popular  government.  He  was  no  hero  worshiper.  John  Adams  (his 


316  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NEW  GOVERNMENT  [§  369 

spoke  forty  minutes  from  the  chair  in  opposition  to  the  simple 
form  of  title  for  the  President.  "  What/'  he  exclaimed,  "  will 
the  common  people  of  other  countries,  what  will  the  sailors  and 
soldiers,  say  of  '  George  Washington,  President  of  the  United 
States '  ?  They  will  despise  him  to  all  eternity ! " 

Soon  after,  the  struggle/  was  renewed  on  the  bill  to  establish 
the  mint.  It  was  proposed  that  each  coin  should  bear  the 
image  of  the  President  during  whose  administration  it  was 
coined  —  after  the  fashion  of  all  royal  coinage.  A  few  radicals 
attacked  this  "  disposition  to  ape  monarchic  practice,"  and  the 
proposal  was  dropped,  in  favor  of  the  use  of  an  emblematic 
"  Goddess  of  Liberty." 

It  has  been  too  much  the  custom  to  ridicule  the  objectors  to 
these  "  harmless  "  forms  and  titles  in  this  critical  struggle  for 
simplicity.  The  titles  were  "  harmless  "  ;  but  the  spirit  in  which 
they  were  demanded  was  not.  That  spirit  was  quite  as  violent 
and  ridiculous  as  was  the  democratic  opposition  to  it.  The 
aristocrats  believed  that  government  ought  to  be  hedged  about 
with  ceremonial  to  secure  due  reverence  from  its  "subjects" 
It  is  easy  to  find  matter  for  laughter  in  some  acts  of  the  demo 
cratic  opposition ; l  but  at  least  let  us  acknowledge  gratefully 
our  debt  to  it  for  turning  the  current  of  American  practice 
away  from  Old  World  trappings  of  childish  or  slavish  cere 
monial  toward  manly  simplicity  and  democratic  common  sense. 

369.  Other  questions  had  to  do  not  merely  with  ceremony,  but 
with  power.  The  Constitution  requires  the  consent  of  the 
Senate  to  Presidential  appointments  and  to  treaties,  but  does 
not  say  how  that  consent  shall  be  given.  Washington  and  his 
Cabinet  were  at  first  inclined  to  treat  the  Senate  as  an  English 

pet  aversion)  is  credited  with  "  a  very  silly  kind  of  laugh  ...  the  most  un 
meaning  simper  that  ever  dimpled  the  face  of  folly."  Madison  is  styled  "  His 
Littleness."  Hamilton  appears  with  "  a  very  boyish,  giddy  manner."  And 
even  Jefferson  wears  "  a  rambling,  vacant  look." 

1  Jefferson  wrote  from  Paris,  rejoicing  at  the  defeat  of  the  proposed  title : 
"  I  hope  the  titles  of  Excellency,  Honor,  Worship,  Esquire,  forever  disappear 
from  among  us  from  that  moment.  I  wish  that  of  Mr.  would  follow  them." 
"  Mister"  [Master]  had  not  ceased  to  denote  social  rank  in  America. 


§  370]          CUSTOM   AND  THE   CONSTITUTION  317 

monarch  treated  his  Privy  Council.  When  the  first  nomination 
for  a  foreign  minister  came  up  (June  17),  Vice  President  Adams 
attempted  to  take  the  "  advice  and  consent "  of  the  Senators 
one  by  one,  viva  voce.  This  attack  upon  the  independence  of 
the  Senate  was  foiled  by  Maclay,  who  insisted  upon  vote  by 
ballot. 

A  still  more  important  incident  concerned  a  treaty  with 
certain  Indian  tribes.  Instead  of  sending  the  printed  document 
to  the  Senate  for  consideration  (as  is  done  now),  Washington 
came  in  person  (August  22),  took  the  Vice  President's  presiding 
chair,  asked  Secretary  Knox  to  read  the  treaty  aloud  (which 
was  done  hurriedly  and  indistinctly),  and  then  asked  at  once  for 
"  advice  and  consent,"  to  be  given  in  his  presence. 

As  Maclay  properly  observes,  there  was  "no  chance  for  a 
fair  investigation  while  the  President  of  the  United  States  sat 
there  with  his  Secretary  of  War  to  support  his  opinions  and 
overawe  the  timid  and  neutral."  The  question  was  being  put, 
when  Maclay's  sturdy  republicanism  once  more  intervened. 
He  called  for  certain  other  papers  bearing  on  the  subject,  and 
this  resulted  in  postponement.  Maclay  asserts  that  Washing 
ton  received  the  first  interruption  with  "an  aspect  of  stern 
displeasure,"  and  that  at  the  close  he  "  started  up  in  a  violent 
fret,"  exclaiming,  "  This  defeats  every  purpose  of  my  coming 
here. " 

370.  The  Constitution,  by  its  language,  suggests  single  heads 
for  executive  departments  (rather  than  the  committees  custom 
ary  under  the  old  Confederation).  Congress  at  once  established 
the  departments  of  State,  Treasury,  and  War,  —  together 
with  an  Attorney-generalship.  Washington  appointed  as  the 
three  "Secretaries,"  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  and  Henry  Knox, 
and  made  Edmund  Randolph  the  Attorney-general.  These 
officials  were  designed,  separately,  to'  advise  and  assist  the  Presi 
dent;  but  neither  the  Act  of  Congress  nor  the  Constitution 
made  any  reference  to  them  as  a  collective  body,  —  that  is,  as 
a  "Cabinet."  And  yet,  the  Cabinet  has  become  by  custom  an 
important  part  of  our  government. 


318   ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NEW  GOVERNMENT   [§  371 

The  Constitution  provides  only  that  the  President  "  may  re 
quire  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of 
the  executive  departments,  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the 
duties  of  their  respective  offices"  This  gives  no  warrant  for 
asking  advice,  for  instance,  from  the  Secretary  of  War  upon  a 
matter  of  finance ;  but  almost  at  once  Washington  began  to 
treat  the  group  as  one  official  family.  When  he  was  troubled 
as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  Bank  Bill  (§  381),  he  asked 
both  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  for  written  opinions ;  and,  in 
1793,  when  the  war  between  England  and  France  raised  serious 
questions  as  to  the  proper  policy  for  America  (§  396),  he  called 
the  three  Secretaries  and  Randolph  into  personal  counsel  in  a 
body.  This  was  the  first  "  Cabinet  meeting." 

From  time  to  time  Congress  has  decreed  new  departments.  In  1798  a 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  was  given  part  of  the  duties  of  the  old  Department 
of  War.  The  Post  Office  was  established  in  1790  as  a  part  of  the  Treas 
ury  Department,  but  in  1829  the  Postmaster-general  became  the  equal  of 
the  other  heads  of  departments.  In  1849  there  was  added  a  Department 
of  the  Interior ;  and  out  of  this  were  carved  the  Department  of  Agricul 
ture,  in  1889,  and  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  in  1903.  The 
last  was  again  divided  in  1913  into  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  the 
Department  of  Labor.  The  Attorney-general  became  the  head  of  a  De 
partment  of  Justice  in  1870. 

371.  Seven  of  the  ratifying  State  conventions  had  proposed 
amendments  to  the  constitution,  124  in  number.  Early  in  the 
first  session  of  Congress,  Madison  introduced  a  list  of  twenty 
amendments.  Twelve  were  adopted  by  Congress,  and  ten  of 
these  were  ratified  by  the  States. 

These  ten  amendments  are  commonly  known  as  "  The  Bill  of 
Rights."  They  forbid  Congress 1  to  interfere  with  freedom  of 
religion,  freedom  of  the  press,  or  freedom  of  petition,  and  they 
prohibit  general  warrants  or  excessive  bail  or  cruel  and  unusual 

1  These  amendments  were  intended  to  restrict  the  Central  government  only, 
but  many  people  think  of  the  restrictions  as  applying  to  the  States  also. 
Congress  can  give  no  religion  preference  over  another  ;  but  a  State  legisla 
ture  may  do  so,  —  unless  forbidden  by  the  State  constitution.  Some  States 
did  have  "  established  churches  "  for  many  years  longer. 


§  372]  THE   BILL  OF  RIGHTS  319 

punishments.  They  further  guarantee  to  citizens  a  right  to 
trial  by  a  jury  of  the  neighborhood,  in  criminal  accusations 
and  in  civil  cases  when  the  amount  in  dispute  exceeds  twenty 
dollars.  The  ninth  and  tenth  amendments  emphasize  the 
idea  that  the  Federal  government  is  limited  to  those  powers 
enumerated  in  the  Constitution. 

372.  The  Constitution  made  it  the  duty  of  Congress  to  pro 
vide  a  Supreme  Court.  The  "  original  jurisdiction"  of  that 
Court  was  stated  in  the  Constitution ;  but  Congress  was  left  at 
libtrty  to  regulate  the  "  appellate  jurisdiction"  and  to  provide  in 
ferior  courts,  or  not,  at  its  discretion.  A  Judiciary  Act  of  1789 
established  a  system  of  which  the  main  features  still  remain.1 

a.  A  Supreme  Court  (a  Chief  Justice  and  five  Associate 
Justices)  was  created,  to  sit  at  the  Capital.2 

6.  Two  grades  of  inferior  courts  were  established  covering 
the  entire  Union.  (1)  There  were  thirteen  District  Courts,  each 
with  a  resident  judge.  (2)  These  districts  were  grouped  into 
three  circuits,  each  with  its  Circuit  Court  intermediate  between 
District  Court  and  Supreme  Court.  At  this  time,  there  were  no 
distinct  Circuit  Judges:  each  Circuit  Court  consisted  of  a  Dis 
trict  Judge  and  of  two  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  "  on  cir 
cuit." 

c.  Appeals  to  the  Supreme  Court  were  provided  for,  not  only 
from  inferior  Federal  courts,  but  also  from  any  State  court,  in  all 
cases  where,  such  a  court  had  denied  any  right  or  power  claimed 
under  a  Federal  law  or  treaty  or  under  the  Constitution. 

This  part  of  the  law  still  makes  the  Federal  judiciary  the  "final  ar 
biter"  between  States  and  Nation  (§  352  a).  The  Constitution  per 
mitted  such  a  law  ;  but  Congress  might  have  given  very  narrow  limits  to 
the  appellate  power.  This  great  law  did  extend  that  power  so  as  to 
include  every  possible  case  of  conflict  between  States  and  Nation. 

The  establishment  of  the  inferior  Federal  Courts  (b  above)  also  greatly 
magnified  the  authority  of  the  Federal  judiciary  at  the  expense  of 
State  Courts,  since  it  made  Federal  Courts  much  more  accessible  than  if 
there  had  been  only  one  court,  fixed  at  Washington. 

1  Cf .  Appendix  I,  and  references  there,  for  the  most  important  changes  since. 

2  The  number  of  Associate  Justices  is  now  eight  (1917) . 


320   ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NEW  GOVERNMENT   [§  373 

373.  On  the  other  hand,  the  power  of  the  Court  was  soon  limited 
by  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution.  The  first  decision  to 
draw  public  attention  to  the  enormous  powers  of  the  Supreme 
Court  was  in  the  case  of  CMsholm  v.  Georgia,  in  1793.  Chis- 
holm,  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina,  sued  in  the  Supreme  Court 
to  recover  a  debt  from  the  State  of  Georgia.  The  Constitu 
tion  states  that  "  the  judicial  power  shall  extend  ...  to  con 
troversies  between  a  State  and  citizens  of  another  State." 
Georgia,  however,  claimed  that  this  phrase  meant  only  that  a 
State  could  sue  private  citizens  in  the  Federal  Court,  not  that 
a  State  could  itself  be  sued  by  private  individuals.  The  words 
must  be  taken  in  the  light  of  the  State-sovereignty  ideas  of  that 
era  ;  and,  beyond  all  doubt,  this  understanding  of  Georgia  was 
the  general  understanding  when  the  Constitution  was  ratified. 

In  the  ratifying  conventions,  fear  had  been  sometimes  expressed  that 
this  clause  might  enable  a  private  citizen  to.  sue  "  a  sovereign  State."  In 
all  such  cases,  the  leading  Federalists  explained  that  such  meaning  was 
impossible.  Madison,  in  the  Virginia  convention,  declared  the  objection 
"  without  reason,"  because  "  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  individuals  to  call 
any  State  into  court."  In  the  same  debate,  John  Marshall  (afterwards 
Chief  Justice),  in  defending  the  clause,  exclaimed:  "I  hope  no  gentle 
man  will  think  that  a  state,  will  be  called  at  the  bar  of  a  Federal  Court. 
...  It  is  not  natural  to  suppose  that  the  sovereign  power  should  be 
dragged  before  a  court.  The  intent  is  to  enable  States  to  recover  elaims 
against  individuals  residing  in  other  States."  And  Hamilton  in  the 
Federalist  (No.  81)  declared  any  other  view  "altogether  forced  and 
unaccountable,"  because  "  it  is  inherent  in  the  nature  of  sovereignty  not 
to  be  amenable  to  the  suit  of  an  individual  without  its  own  consent." 

Now,  however,  the  Court,  by  a  divided  vote,  assumed  juris 
diction.  Georgia  refused  to  appear,  and  judgment  went 
against  her.  Georgia  thereupon  threatened  death  "without 
benefit  of  clergy  "  to  any  Federal  marshal  who  should  attempt 
to  collect  the  award.  Civil  war  was  imminent. 

Similar  suits  were  pending  in  other  States,  and  there  was 
widespread  alarm.  The  legislatures  of  Massachusetts,  Con 
necticut,  and  Virginia  called  for  a  constitutional  amendment, 
and  passed  vigorous  resolutions  denouncing  the  Court's 


§  373]  THE   ELEVENTH  AMENDMENT  321 

decision  as  "  dangerous  to  the  peace,  safety,  and  independence 
of  the  several  States."  Then  Congress  by  almost  unanimous 
vote  submitted  to  the  people  the  Eleventh  amendment,  ivhich 
reversed  the  decision  of  the  Court  and  upheld  Georgia's  inter 
pretation  of  the  Constitution. 

EXERCISE.  —  Glance  back  over  the  chapter  with  special  reference  to 
the  bearing  of  the  chapter's  title.  Our  Constitution  has  grown  by  written 
amendment,  by  judicial  decisions,  and  by  custom.  No  period  has  been 
more  fruitful  in  such  growth  than  Washington's  administrations. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING  on  chapters  xxxii-xxxvii.  —  Francis  A. 
Walker's  Making  of  the  Nation,  73-167,  gives  an  admirable  brief  treat 
ment.  Biographies  of  Washington,  Adams,  and  Hamilton  should  be 
accessible  (see  titles  in  Appendix). 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

HAMILTON'S   FINANCE 

374.  CONGRESS  made  appropriations  the  first  year  amount 
ing  to  $  640,000  —  about  one  hundredth  as  much  per  citizen  as 
the  cost  of  government  in  recent  years  —  and  it  provided  for 
this  expense  by  a  low  tariff.     The  rates  averaged  about  1\  per 
cent,  and  the  bill  was  based  upon  the  idea  in  the  attempted 
"  revenue  amendments  "  of  1781  and  1783  (§  331).     Pennsyl 
vania  members,  however,  secured  some  amendments  intended 
to  "protect"  American  manufactures,  and  this  purpose  was 
finally  stated  in  the  title  of  the  bill.     Strictly  speaking,  how 
ever,  the  law  remained  a  tariff  for  revenue,  with  "  incidental 
protective  features." 

375.  Meanwhile  Hamilton,  with  marvelous  skill  and  industry, 
had  worked  out  a  plan  to  care  for  the  old  debts  and  to  put  the 
chaotic  finances   of    the   nation   in    order.     First  he   recom 
mended  that  the  government  "  fund  "  the  continental  debt  (both 
the  $11,500,000  due  abroad  and  the  .$  40,500,000  of  "certifi 
cates  "  held  at  home),1  by  taking  it  up,  at  face  value,  in  ex 
change  for  new  bonds   payable  in  fifteen  and  twenty  years. 

To  make  full  provision  for  the  foreign  part  of  this  debt  was 
inevitable,  if  the  United  States  was  to  have  standing  among 
the  nations.  Congress  gave  unanimous  approval  to  this  part 
of  the  scheme,  but  many  members  objected  to  taking  over  in 
full  the  old  domestic  debt.  For  the  most  part,  the  "  certifi 
cates  "  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  speculators,  at  twelve  or 
fifteen  cents  on  the  dollar ;  and,  it  was  argued,  there  was 
neither  necessity  nor  propriety  in  voting  fortunes  out  of  the 

1  About  a  third  of  this  domestic  debt  consisted  of  unpaid  interest. 
322 


§  376]  HAMILTON'S  FINANCE  323 

people's  money  to  men  who  had  so  traded  on  their  country's 
needs.  Hamilton  maintained  forcefully,  however,  that  no  other 
course  would  establish  national  credit  or  redeem  the  faith 
pledged  by  the  old  Congress  as  the  price  of  Independence  ;  and 
this  view  prevailed. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  $200,000,000  of  Continental  currency,  held 
mainly  by  the  common  people,  was  practically  repudiated.  This  was 
much  the  larger  part  of  the  Revolutionary  debt.  In  view  of  this,  the 
talk  of  "  redeeming  our  sacred  faith  "  has  a  peculiar  sound.  Hamilton's 
plan  is  to  be  praised  because  it  was  wise,  not  because  it  was  particu 
larly  honest. 

Even  before  Hamilton's  proposals  were  laid  before  Con 
gress,  his  purpose  leaked  out ;  and  wealthy  men  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  hastily  started  agents  in  swift-sailing  vessels 
for  distant  colonies,  and  on  horseback  for  back  counties,  to 
buy  up  certificates  at  the  prevailing  prices,  before  the  news 
should  arrive.  Indeed,  many  believed  that  Hamilton  himself 
was  corruptly  interested  in  this  speculation.  From  this 
charge,  happily,  he*  can  be  absolutely  acquitted ;  but  he  had 
been  careless  in  letting  out  official  secrets  to  less  scrupulous 
friends,  and  some  of  his  strongest  supporters  in  Congress 
were  among  these  speculators. 

376.  Hamilton  planned  also  for  the  Federal  government  to 
assume  the  war  debts  of  the  States  ($22,000,000).  This  part 
of  his  scheme  was  long  in  danger.  States  that  had  already 
paid  their  debts  resented  bitterly  the  prospect  of  now  having 
to  help  pay  also  the  debts  of  other  States ;  and  States-rights 
men  denied  the  right  of  Congress  to  assume  debts.  The  meas 
ure  was  finally  carried  by  a  log-rolling  bargain.  Jefferson 
was  persuaded  to  get  two  Virginia  votes  for  "assumption," 
in  return  for  Hamilton's  promise  of  Northern  votes  to  locate 
the  Capital  on  the  Potomac.1  Thus  the  total  debt  of  the  new 

1  EXERCISE.  — Let  the  student  make  clear  to  himself,  from  the  text,  the 
use  of  the  terms  funding  and  "  assumption."  Is  it  not  clear  why  this  ar 
rangement  between  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  cannot  be  called  a  compromise, 
but  must  be  styled  "  log-rolling  "  ?  Did  Hamilton  pay  off  any  of  the  debt? 


324  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATIONS          [§  377 

nation  was  some  74  millions  l  —  or  about  as  much  per  head  as 
the  annual  expenses  of  government  a  century  later. 

377.  All   this  was   vigorous   financiering.     American   credit 
was   established  at  a   stroke.     Confidence   returned   at  home. 
Money  came  out  of  hiding,  and  we  entered  upon  an  era  of 
business   prosperity.     Daniel   Webster  afterward   said,   in  a 
great  oration,  that  Hamilton  "  smote  the  rock  of  national  re 
sources,  and  abundant  streams  of  revenue  gushed  forth.     He 
touched  the  dead  corpse  of  national  credit,  and  it  sprung  upon 
its  feet."     (Of.  §  324.) 

But  it  was  more  than  mere  financiering.  Hamilton  cared  as 
much  for  the  political  results  as  for  the  financial.  He  saw  that 
these  measures  would  be  "  a  powerful  cement  to  union "  "  by 
arraying  property  on  the  side  of  the  new  government."  Es 
pecially  was  this  true  of  assumption.  If  that  part  of  the  plan 
had  failed,  then  all  holders  of  State  bonds  would  have  been 
inclined  to  oppose  national  taxation  as  a  hindrance  to  State 
taxation  —  whereby  they  themselves  would  have  had  to  be 
paid.  After  "  assumption "  carried,  all  Such  creditors  were 
transformed  into  ardent  advocates  of  the  new  government  and 
of  every  extension  of  its  powers  ;  because  the  stronger  it  grew 
and  the  more  it-  taxed,  the  safer  their  own  private  fortunes. 
The  commercial  forces  of  the  country  were  consolidated  behind 
the  new  government. 

Jefferson  soon  regretted  bitterly  his  aid  to  this  centralizing  force,  and 
complained  that  (just  back  from  France)  he  had  been  tricked  by  Hamil 
ton.  "Hamilton's  system,"  said  he,  "flowed  from  principles  adverse  to 
liberty,  and  was  calculated  to  undermine  the  Republic."  And  Maclay 
wrote  during  the  contest,  —  **  The  Secretary's  people  scarce  disguise  their 
design,  which  is  to  create  a  mass  of  debts  which  will  justify  them  in  seiz 
ing  all  the  [re] sources  of  government,  thus  annihilating  the  State  legisla 
tures  and  creating  an  empire  on  the  basis  of  consolidation." 

378.  The  victory  of  "  assumption "  made  a  larger  revenue 
necessary.     Another  part  of  Hamilton's  plan  dealt  with  this 

1  Several  arrangements  made  it  really  less  than  this.  Some  of  the  domes 
tic  debt  was  paid  in  wild  lands. 


§  379J  THE  WHISKY  REBELLION  325 

need.  In  accord  with  his  recommendations,  duties  were  in 
creased  slightly  on  goods  imported  from  abroad;  and,  in  1791, 
Congress  imposed  a  heavy  "  excise  "  on  spirits  distilled  at  home. 

To-day  such  an  excise  falls,  first  upon  large  distilleries, 
which  pay  the  tax  and  then  collect  it  again  from  the  "  ulti 
mate  consumer"  in  increased  price.1  But,  in  that  time, 
whisky,  a  universal  drink,  was  manufactured  in  countless 
petty  "stills"  scattered  over  the  country,  especially  in  the 
poorer  western  counties,  where  the  farmer  could  not  market 
his  grain  in  any  other  way.2  These  small  producers  in  the 
western  districts  rarely  saw  much  currency ;  and  they  felt  it 
a  cruel  hardship  to  have  to  pay  the  tax,  particularly  in  ad 
vance  of  marketing  the  whisky. 

379.  The  legislatures  of  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  Maryland, 
and  Pennsylvania  passed  vehement  resolutions  condemning 
the  law ;  and  in  four  western  counties  of  Pennsylvania  the 
United  States  officials  were  driven  out  or  set  at  nought  for 
three  years,  —  by  methods  that  make  a  curious  parody  upon 
the  methods  toward  English  officials  in  the  years  before  the 
Battle  of  Lexington. 

This  was  the  Whisky  Rebellion.  Finally,  under  Hamilton's 
advice,  Washington  marched  15,000  militia  from  neighboring 
States  into  the  insurgent  counties,  and  obedience  was  restored. 
TJie  most  important  result  of  the  whisky  tax  was  not  the  increased 
revenue,  but  this  demonstration  that  the  new  government  was  able 
and  determined  to  enforce  its  laws.3 


1  Tariffs  and  excises  are  indirect  taxes  (one  external,  the  other  internal) 
paid  in  the  first  instance  by  importer  or  manufacturer,  but  in  the  end  by  the 
people  who  buy  and  use  the  goods. 

2  A  pack-horse  could  carry  not  more  than  four  bushels  of  grain ;  but,  re 
duced  to  the  form  of  whisky,  he  could  carry  twenty-four  bushels.    Western 
Pennsylvania  is  said  to  have  had  3000  stills.    The  student  will  know  some 
thing  of  the  modern  feeling  against  the  excise  in  the  mountain  districts  of 
Southern  States. 

8  The  Whisky  Rebellion  is  worth  a  special  report.  It  was  the  first  rebel 
lion  against  the  Federal  government.  (Compare  with  Shays'  Rebellion 
against  a  State.)  Two  leaders  were  tried  for  treason  and  condemned  to  death, 


326  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATIONS  [§  380 

380.  Hamilton  also  persuaded  Congress  to  incorporate  a  National 
Bank.     The   government  held  part  of   the  stock,  and  named 
some  of  the  managing  Board.     In  return,  the  Bank  acted  as 
the  agent  of  the  government  in  securing  loans,  and  took  care 
of   the  national  funds.     In  other  respects,  it   was  like  other 
banks,  —  receiving  deposits,  issuing  paper  notes  (which  made 
a  much-needed  currency),  transferring  credits  and  cash  from 
one   part  of   the  country   to  another,1  and   making   loans  on 
suitable  security.   .  Critics  soon  pointed  out   a  danger  that  a 
bank  connected  with  the  government  might  exert  tremendous 
political  influence  for  the  party  in  power  by  granting  or  refus 
ing  loans.     But  banking  facilities  had  been  meager ;  and  the 
convenience  of  this  institution  bound  the  commercial  classes  still 
more  closely  to  the  new  government. 

381.  The   creation   of    the   Bank   led    to   the   doctrine   of 
"  implied  powers  "  in  the  Constitution  (§  347).     To  create  a  cor 
poration  is  not  among  the  powers  "  enumerated  "  for  Congress. 
Indeed,  efforts    to   include   that   particular   power   had   been 
defeated  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention.     Hamilton,  however, 
insisted  that  the  authority  was  given  by  the  "  necessary  and 
proper"  clause  (§348).     "Necessary,"  he  urged,  meant  only 
"  suitable " ;   and  a  national   bank  would   be  a   suitable   and 
convenient   means   to  carry   out   the   enumerated   powers   of 
borrowing  money   and   caring   for   national   finances.      After 
serious    hesitation,    Washington    signed    the   bill.      He  had 
invited   opinions   from  Jefferson  as  well   as   from   Hamilton 
(§  370) ;   and  the  debate  between   the   two  great   Secretaries 
began  the  dispute  as  to  "  strict  construction  "  and  "  loose  "  or 
"broad"  construction  of  the  Constitution. 

EXERCISE.  — Review  Hamilton's  financial  plan,  making  out  an  abstract 
of  its  various  parts  in  the  form  of  a  "brief."  Review  carefully  §§  345- 
348  in  connection  with  §  381. 

but  they  were  pardoned  by  Washington.    Happily,  the  nation  has  never  im 
posed  a  death  penalty  for  political  opposition. 

1  There  was  a  central  bank  at  Philadelphia,  with  branches  in  other  leading 
cities. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 
NORTH  AND  SOUTH 

382.  From  the  first,  the  serious  contests  under  the  new  gov 
ernment  were  sectional.     The   conflicts  upon  assumption,  the 
tariff,  the  Bank,   had  all   been  conflicts  between  North  and 
South,  —  commercial  section  and  agricultural  section. 

This  sectionalism  was  intensified  by  the  slavery  question.  In 
the  North,  and  as  far  south  as  through  Virginia,  antislavery 
sentiment  was  gradually  growing.  Some  States  had  abolished 
slavery ;  some  were  making  arrangements  for  gradual  emanci 
pation  ;  others  had  at  least  forbidden  importation  of  slaves. 
In  the  first  session  of  the  First  Congress,  a  Virginia  represen 
tative  moved  a  national  tax  of  ten  dollars  a  head  upon  all 
slaves  imported  into  any  State.  After  a  bitter  debate  the 
matter  was  dropped.  At  the  next  session,  petitions  were 
presented  from  two  Pennsylvania  societies  praying  Congress 
to  use  its  "  constitutional  powers  "  to  limit  slavery  and  pro 
tect  the  Negro.  The  resulting  debate  was  as  fierce  as  any  in 
our  history,  bristling  with  vituperation  and  with  threats  of 
secession  ;  and  the  House  finally  adopted  resolutions  declaring 
that  it  had  no  "  constitutional  power "  to  interfere  with  the 
treatment  of  slaves,  or  to  abolish  slavery,  within  any  State. 

383.  The  next  move  came  from  the  South  in  a  demand  for 
a  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  in  1793  there  was  passed  a  disgrace 
ful  statute.     The  Constitution  sanctioned  slavery  and  made  it 
the  legal  duty  of  Congress  to  provide  the  necessary  machinery 
for   the   capture  and   return  of   fugitive  slaves ;   but  the   law 
should  at  least  have  given  to  any  Negro,  claimed  as  a  slave,  the 
benefit   of  the  doubt,  until  proof  of   the  claim  was  complete. 
The  presumption  should  have  been  in  his  favor.     Such,  indeed, 

327 


328  WASHINGTON'S  ADMINISTRATIONS          [§  384 

was  the  maxim  of  the  Roman  Imperial  law.1  But  this  Amer 
ican  law  followed  rather  the  medieval  maxim  that  a  master- 
less  man  must  belong  to  some  master.  It  was  a  base  sur 
render  of  human  rights  to  property  rights.  It  assumed  that 
the  claim  of  a  pretended  master  was  good  unless  disproved  by 
evidence.  No  jury  trial  was  provided,  and  a  free  Negro, 
seized  in  a  strange  locality,  might  easily  find  it  impossible  to 
prove  his  freedom,  —  especially  as  the  law  failed  to  provide  for 
summoning  witnesses.  A  crushing  fine  was  provided  for  any 
citizen  aiding  a  Negro  who  might  prove  to  be  an  escaped  slave. 
In  every  detail  the  presumption  of  the  law  was  against  the  Negro. 

In  a  more  enlightened  age  the  courts  would  have  held  the  law  uncon 
stitutional.  It  neither  provided  securities  for  the  accused  in  criminal 
cases  (if  the  claim  that  a  Negro  was  an  escaped  slave  constituted  a  crimi 
nal  case) ,  nor  insured  the  jury  trial  guaranteed  by  the  seventh  amend 
ment  in  civil  cases.  But  law,  after  all,  is  merely  what  the  courts,  sustained 
by  public  opinion,  declare  it  to  be.  This  abominable  statute  was  sustained 
by  American  courts;  and,  under  its  sanction,  gangs  of  kidnapers  could, 
and  sometimes  did,  carry  off  free  men  to  a  horrible  slavery.  After  some 
fifty  years  (in  the  famous  Prigg  v.  Pennsylvania  case)  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  nation  definitely  upheld  the  constitutionality  of  the  law,  except  as 
to  the  provision  requiring  State  officials  to  act  as  Federal  officers  in  carry 
ing  it  out  (1842).  The  more  active  public  opinion  of  the  forties  took  ad 
vantage  of  this  leak  to  undermine  the  operation  of  the  law.2  Then  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850  (§  629)  merely  reenacted  the  old  abuses  with 
more  efficient  machinery,  i.  e.  with  special  Federal  commissioners  to  en 
force  them. 

384.   The  reunion  of  the  old  thirteen  States  was  completed  by 

the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  in  North  Carolina  (Novem 
ber,  1789)  and  in  Rhode  Island  (1790).  Almost  at  the  same 
time  began  the  expansion  of  the  Union  through  the  admission  of 
new  States,  —  Vermont  in  1791,  and  Kentucky  in  1792.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  Federalist  period,  Tennessee  was  admitted 


1  West's  Ancient  World,  §  637. 

2  In  some  parts  of  the  country,  the  law  had  been  a  dead  letter  from  the  first. 
In  1795  a  fugitive  slave  was  rescued  from  pursuers  in  Massachusetts. 


§  384]         SLAVERY  TROUBLES  :   NEW  STATES  329 

(1796) ;  and  in  1802,  early  in  the  following  period,  Ohio  came 
in.  Regarding  these  new  States,  three  matters  call  for  consid 
eration. 

a.  Of  the  original  thirteen  States,  seven  were  north  of  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line;   but  some  of  these  were  still  slave-holding 
States,  so  that  the  Slave  and  Free  sections  were  not  unequal. 
The  bills  for  the  admission  of  Kentucky  and  Vermont  were 
passed  within  a  few  days  of  each  other,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
balance,  —  especially  in  the  Senate,  —  between  the  forces  for  and 
against  slavery. 

b.  Both  Kentucky  and  Vermont  gave  the  franchise  to  all  White 
males  twenty-one  years  of  age.     These  were  the  first  States  with 
"  manhood  franchise."     Tennessee  and  Ohio  did  not  go  quite 
so  far ;   but  they  also  were  much  more  democratic  than  the 
older  States.     The  admission  of  Western  States  began  at  once  to 
introduce  greater  democracy  into  the  Union. 

c.  The  new  commonwealths  had  never  known  political  ex 
istence  as  sovereign  bodies.     They  were  the  children  of  the 
Union,  created  by  it  and  fostered  by  it ;  and  the  tendency  to 
nationality  was   stronger  within   their  borders   than  within 
the  original  States.     TJie  most  powerful  single  force  in  our  history 
on  the  side  of  union  has  been  this  addition  of  the  many  new  States 
carved  out  of  the  national  domain. 


CHAPTER   XXXV 
RISE  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES 

385.  The  first  three  years  of  Washington's  administration  saw 
no  political  parties.     The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  ended 
the  first  party  contest.     The  Federalists  were  left,  almost  with 
out  opposition,  to  organize  the  government  they  had  estab 
lished  ;  and,  within  a  few  months,  party  lines  were  wiped  out. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  Washington  tried  to  reconcile  the  two  old 
parties  and  so  appointed  to  his  Cabinet  two  leaders  from  the  Antifeder- 
alists,  —  Jefferson  and  Randolph.  This  is  absurd.  Jefferson  had  criticized 
the  Constitution, — though  less  severely  than  Hamilton  had, — but  he, 
too,  had  used  his  influence  for  its  ratification.  And,  though  Randolph 
refused  to  sign  the  final  draft  of  the  Constitution  at  Philadelphia,  he  had, 
afterward,  in  the  Virginia  convention,  been  one  of  the  chief  leaders  for 
ratification.  The  Cabinet  represented  merely  the  different  wings  of  the  old 
Federalist  party. 

386.  But  elements  were  present  for  new  divisions.     Men  soon 
found  themselves  for  or  against  the  plans  of  the  government 
according  as  they  favored  (1)  aristocracy  or  democracy,  (2)  com 
mercial  or  agricultural  interests,  (3)  a  strong  or  a  weak  govern 
ment,  and  (4)  English  or  French  sympathies. 

And  these  divergent  views  arranged  themselves  in  two  groups. 
The  commercial  interests  wished  a  strong  central  govern 
ment  (§  351),  and  favored  England  because  our  commerce 
was  mainly  with  that  country.1  Likewise,  they  were  more 
impelled  toward  aristocracy  —  to  which  they  had  always 
been  inclined  —  because  aristocratic  England  was  now  the 

1  After  the  Revolution  almost  as  exclusively  as  before, — which  suggests 
that  the  English  navigation  acts  had  not  in  great  measure  diverted  colonial 
commerce  from  its  natural  channels. 

330 


§  388]  RISE   OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  331 

champion  of  the  old  order  against  democratic  France,  in  the 
wars  of  the  French  Revolution. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  democratic  portion  of  society  had  its 
chief  strength  in  agricultural  districts.  It  kept  its  Revolu 
tionary  hatred  for  England,  and  was  warmly  attached  to  France 
(formerly  our  ally  and  now  the  European  champion  of  de 
mocracy).  And,  according  to  universal  democratic  feeling  in 
that  day,  it  looked  with  distrust  upon  any  strong  government. 

387.  Hamilton  stood  for  the  aristocratic,  pro-English .  tend 
ency  ;  Jefferson,  for  the  democratic,  pro-French  view.     Soon 
the  two  were  contending  in  the  Cabinet  (in  Jefferson's  phrase) 
"  like  cocks  in  a  pit.77 1    By  1 792  these  divergent  views  in  the 
country  had  crystallized  into  new  political  parties  under  these 
leaders.      Jefferson   believed   that  Hamilton's  policy,  if  not 
checked,    would    result    in    monarchy ;     and    he    called    his 
own  party  "  Republican.77     His  opponents  tried  to  discredit 
it  by  stigmatizing  it   "Democratic,77   and   shrewdly   took   to 
themselves    the    old    name    "Federalist.77      Unhappily,    the 
new   party   lines   were    largely   sectional.     Commercial   New 
England  was  mainly  Federalist;  the  agricultural  South  was 
Republican. 

388.  Jefferson  first  uses  the  term  Republican  as  a  party  name  in  a 
letter  to  Washington  in  May,  1792  :  —  "  The  Republican  party  among  us, 
who  wish  to  preserve  the  government  in  its  present  form  ..."     Years 
later  he  affirmed  he  had  heard  Hamilton  call  the  Constitution  "a  shilly 
shally  thing,  of  mere  milk  and  water,  which  .  .  .  was  good  only  as  a  step 
to  something  better"  ;  and  later  still  he  declared,  "  The  contests  of  that 
day  were  contests  of  principle  between  the  adherents  of  republican  and 
of  kingly  government." 

But  if  Jefferson  accused  his  opponents  of  plotting  against  the  Republic, 
they,  even  more  absurdly,  accused  him  of  plotting  to  overthrow  all 
society,  in  the  interest  of  bloody  anarchy  or  at  least  of  a  general  pre 
scription  of  property  (§  426).  It  took  a  generation  for  men  to  learn  that 
political  difference  did  not  mean  moral  viciousness.  Many  years  after 
ward,  Madison  characterized  the  party  divisions  more  fairly: — "Hamil 
ton  wished  to  administer  the  government  into  what  he  thought  it  ought  to 

1  By  1793,  both  men  had  resigned. 


332         FEDERALISTS  AND   REPUBLICANS,   1793       [§  389 

be ;  while  the  Republicans  wished  to  keep  it  as  understood  by  the  men 
who  adopted  iV 

389.  Washington  was  a  Federalist ;    but  his  patriotism  so 
exalted  him  that  the  Republicans  were  unwilling  to  oppose  his 
reelection.      In   1793   he   again  received  every   electoral  vote. 
Adams  became  Vice  President  again,  by  77  votes  to  50  for 
George  Clinton.     The  Republicans  were  sadly  handicapped  in 
their  canvass  for  Clinton  by  their  lack  of  a  candidate  of  their 
own  for  the  presidency ;  but  they  secured  a  strong  majority  in 
the  new  House  of  Representatives. 

390.  Washington  refused  to  be  a  candidate  for  a  third  term,1 
and  in  1796,  came  a  true  party  contest.     The  Federalist  mem 
bers   of  Congress   in  caucus  nominated   Adams  and  Thomas 
Pinckney.      Republican    Congressmen    nominated   Jefferson. 
Adams  won  by  three  votes.     Jefferson  became  Vice  President. 

Before  the  Twelfth  Amendment,  each  elector  voted  for  two  men 
without  naming  one  for  President,  one  for  Vice  President.  If  all 
Federalist  electors  had  voted  for  both  their  candidates,  there  would  have 
been  no  choice  for  first  place.  To  prevent  this  result,  several  Federalist 
electors  threw  away  their  second  votes,  so  that  Pinckney,  on  the  winning 
ticket,  received  fewer  votes  than  Jefferson,  on  the  other.  The  con 
sequence  was  absurd,  —  President  and  Vice  President  from  hostile  parties. 

391.  Excursus.2  —  The   nominating    "caucus,"   originated   in 
town  government.     John  Adams  has  left  the  earliest  account  of 
it  as  it  appeared  in  Boston  (Diary  for  February,  1773) :  — 

**  This  day  I  learned  that  the  caucus  club  meets  at  certain  times  in  the 
garret  of  Tom  Dawes.  ...  He  has  a  large  house,  and  he  has  a  movable 
partition  in  his  garret,  which  he  takes  down,  and  the  whole  club  meets  in 
one  room.  There  they  smoke  tobacco  till  you  cannot  see  from  one  end 
of  the  room  to  the  other.  There  they  drink  flip,  I  suppose,  and  there 
they  choose  a  moderator,  who  puts  questions  to  vote  regularly;  and  select 
men,  assessors,  collectors,  firewards,  and  representatives  are  regularly 

1  Washington's  noble  "  Farewell  Address  "  warned  his  countrymen  against 
"  entangling  alliances  "  abroad  and  sectional  divisions  at  home.    It  should  be 
read  by  all  students. 

2  The  rest  of  this  chapter  is  a  digression  to  explain  party  government. 


§  392]        CONSERVATIVES  AND  PROGRESSIVES  333 

chosen  before  they  are  chosen  by  the  town."     It  was  his  control  over  this 
caucus  which  made  Samuel  Adams  for  so  long  the  "  boss  "  of  Boston. 

By  1790,  it  had  become  customary  in  State  legislatures  for 
members  of  each,  party  to  "  caucus "  in  order  to  nominate 
party  candidates  for  State  offices.  This  device  was  now 
seized  upon  by  the  parties  in  Congress  for  national  party 
nominations.  Of  course  it  destroyed  at  once  and  completely 
the  intention  of  the  Constitution  that  the  chosen  electors 
should  "  deliberate  "  and  make  their  own  choice,  and  so  "  refine 
the  popular  will."  It  remained  now  only  for  them  to  follow 
the  "  recommendation  "  of  the  party  caucus. 

This  matter  illustrates  the  fact  that  party  government  was 
a  new  thing.  The  men  who  made  the  Constitution  did  not 
foresee  it.  Those  who  dreamed  of  it  at  all  thought  of  it  only 
as  a  dreaded  possibility.1  The  Constitution  makes  no  provision 
for  the  chief  force  which  was  to  run  it. 

392.  Government  by  party  seems  to  be  most  wholesome  when 
party  lines  correspond  in  fair  degree  to  the  natural  differences 
between  conservatives  and  progressives.  One  part  of  society 
sees  most  clearly  the  present  good  and  the  possible  dangers 
in  change,  and  feels  that  to  maintain  existing  advantages  is 
more  important  than  to  try  for  new  ones.  Another  part 
sees  most  clearly  the  existing  evils  and  the  possible  gain  in 
change,  and  feels  that  to  try  to  improve  conditions,  even  at  the 
risk  of  experiment,  is  more  important  than  merely  to  preserve 
existing  good.  Each  party  draws  its  strength  from  some  of 
the  noblest  and  some  of  tJie  basest  of  human  qualities.  The 
true  reformer  will  find  himself  associated  with  reckless  ad 
venturers  and  self-seeking  demagogues.  The  thoughtful  con 
servative,  struggling  to  preserve  society  from  harmful  revolu 
tion,  will  find  much  of  his  support  in  the  inertia,  selfishness, 
and  stupidity  of  comfortable  respectability,  and  in  the  greed  of 

1  Said  John  Adams,  in  October,  1792:  "  There  is  nothing  which  I  dread  so 
much  as  the  division  of  the  Republic  into  two  great  parties,  each  under  its 
leader.  .  .  .  This,  in  my  humble  apprehension,  is  to  be  feared  as  the  greatest 
political  evil  under  our  Constitution." 


334  RISE   OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES  [§  393 

"  special  privilege."       "  Stupidity   is   naturally   Tory "  ;    but 
"  Folly  is  naturally  Liberal."  1 

393  The  term  party  government  applies  to  countries  where  the 
people  are  divided  into  political  parties,  and  the  party  with  the  most  votes 
back  of  it  controls  the  course  of  government.  At  present  it  is  the  mark 
of  all  free  governments.  One  of  its  characteristics  is  moderation,  because 
the  shifting  of  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  total  vote  will  usually  displace 
the  ruling  party.  In  America  the  check  of  parties  has  replaced,  for  most 
useful  purposes,  the  elaborate  system  of  checks  devised  by  the  Phila 
delphia  Convention. 

1  This  paragraph  is  condensed  roughly  from  a  much  longer  passage  in 
Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (I,  513-515).  Colonel  Higginson 
had  the  final  quotation  in  mind  probably,  when  he  wrote  of  these  first  Ameri 
can  political  parties,  "Some  men  became  Federalists  because  they  were 
high-minded,  and  some  because  they  were  narrow-minded;  while  the  more 
far-sighted  and  also  the  less  scrupulous  be'came  Republicans." 


CHAPTER   XXXVI 

FOREIGN  RELATIONS,   1793-1800 

394.  The  French  Revolution  began  one  week  after  Washington 
became  President.     That  tremendous  movement  soon  involved 
all  Europe  in  war  ;  and  the  new-born  American  nation  had  only 
four  years  of  quiet,  to  arrange  its  pressing  affairs,  before  it  was 
drawn  into  serious  foreign  complications.     Those  complications 
absorbed  much  American  energy,  and  vitally  affected  American 
development  for  twenty  years,  and  then  closed  with  a  great  war. 
This  chapter  is  concerned  with   them  during  the   Federalist 
period,  to  1801. 

I.   RELATIONS  WITH  FRANCE  TO  1795 

395.  Popular  sympathy  went  out  enthusiastically  to  the  French 
Republic  in  its  desperate  struggle  against  the  "  coalized  despots  " 
of  Europe.     From  one  end  of  America  to  the  other,  there  burst 
forth  a  tine  frenzy  for  "  Democratic  clubs  "  and  other  imitations 
of  new  French  customs  ;  and  loud  demands  were  voiced  that  we 
return  to  France,  in  her  need,  the  aid  we  had  received  from  her 
in  our  own  Revolution. 

396.  Washington  steadfastly  withstood  this  popular  movement. 
On  receiving  news  of  war  between  France  and  England,  in  the 
spring  of  1793,  he  called  the  first  Cabinet  meeting  (§  370),  and, 
with  the  unanimous  approval  of  that  body,  decided  upon  his 
famous  "  Neutrality  Proclamation." 

The  President  had  no  authority  to^ic  the  policy  of  the  nation. 
That  belongs  to  Congress.  Accordingly,  the  proclamation  did 
not  say  that  the  United  States  would  remain  neutral.  It  did 
call  the  attention  of  our  citizens  to  their  duties  while  we  were 

335 


336  FOREIGN  RELATIONS,    1793-1800  [§  397 

neutral,  and  it  dwelt  effectively  upon  the  advantages  of  neutrality. 
It  was  really  an  impressive  argument  for  that  policy.  For  the 
moment,  its  chief  result  seemed  to  be  a  storm  of  violent  abuse 
directed  at  Washington. 

397.  The  new  French  minister,  "  Citizen  "  Genet,  tried  to  use  our 
ports  for  French  privateers  as  if  America  had  been  an  ally 
of  France  in  the  war  ;  and,  in  such  attempts  to  embroil  us  with 
England,  he   had  much   popular  sympathy.     Soon,   however, 
Genet  overreached  himself.     When  checked  by  our  government 
in  his  efforts  to  disregard  our  neutrality,  he  threatened  to  appeal 
from  the  government  to  the  people.      Any  suclj  action  by  the 
representative  of  a  foreign  power  is  the  extreme  of  insolence. 
Washington  promptly  demanded  that  France  recall  its  min 
ister,   and   the   people   generally   supported    this   defense   of 
American  dignity. 

398.  Then   public  opinion   began   overwhelmingly  to   approve 
Washington's  stately  recommendation  for  neutrality  in  the  great 
proclamation.     That  policy  was  established,  by  the  informal 
mandate  of  the  nation,  and  America  was  started  upon  a  cen 
tury-long  period  of  separation  from   Old- World  quarrels.     In 
Washington's  day  such  separation  was  especially  wholesome, 
because  we  could  then  enter  European  politics  only  as  a  tail  to 
the  French  or  English  kite. 

II.    RELATIONS  WITH  ENGLAND 

399.  Our  troubles  with  England  concerned  (1)  the  unfulfilled 
treaty  of  1783  (§  290)  ;  (2)  our  wish  to  trade  with  the  British 
West  Indies  ^—  from  which  England's  navigation  acts  now  shut 
us  out ;  and  (3)  conflicting  views  of  international  law l  as  to 

1  International  law  is  not  law,  but  custom  which  has  won  general  approval, 
and  which  defines  how  nations  are  expected  to  act  toward  one  another  under 
given  conditions.  This  body  of  custom  has  grown  more  definite,  and  has 
changed  greatly,  during  the  past  century;  but  many  of  the  points  then  in  dis 
pute  between  England  and  America  are  still  unsettled.  On  the  whole,  how 
ever,  America  stood  for  an  advanced  interpretation,  and  her  contentions  have 
won  ground,  —  to  the  gain  of  ourselves  and  the  world. 


§  401]  TROUBLES  WITH  ENGLAND  337 

rights  of  neutral  trade  during  the  European  war.  The  first 
two  points  were  of  merely  temporary  interest.  Some  things 
about  the  third  matter  are  still  vital. 

400.  The  English  navy  was  trying  to  conquer  France  by  shut 
ting  off  foreign  commerce.      England  looked  upon  our  trade 
with  France  as  an  aid  to  the  military  resistance  of  that  power. 
We  regarded  England's  restrictions  upon  that  trade  as  inter 
ference  with  neutral  rights.     Two  of  the  points  in  dispute  called 
for  special  notice. 

a.  France  began  (May,  1793)  seizing  American  ships  bound 
to  England  with  foodstuffs,  on  the  ground  that  such  cargo  was 
"  contraband"  England  was  soon  absolute  mistress  of  the  seas, 
and  she  gladly  followed  this  example.  She  offered  payment  to 
the  American  owners,  it  is  true,  for  the  food  she  seized ;  but 
we  held  that  only  military  supplies  were  contraband.1 

6.  England  captured  neutral  vessels  bound  even  to  an  un- 
blockaded  port,  if  they  carried  goods  belonging  to  citizens  of  a 
country  with  which  she  was  at  war.  America  claimed,  "  Free 
ships  make  free  goods."  2 

401.  More  serious,  to  our  eyes  to-day,  was  the  seizure  of 
American  seamen,  —  though  at  the  time  it  awoke  far  less  protest 
than  the  seizure  of  property.     England  had  always  recruited 
sailors  for  her  men-of-war  by  the  press  gang  ;  and  —  so  essential 
was  the  war  navy  —  English  courts  had   always   refused  to 
interfere.     Great   numbers    of   British   seamen  had   recently 
deserted  to  American  merchant  ships  to  get  better  wages  and 

iThe  Russian-Japanese  War  and  still  more  the  present  European  War 
(1916)  prove  that  this  is  still  a  vexed  question.  Food  or  clothing  for  an  army, 
or  for  a  besieged  town,  has  always  come  under  the  head  of  military  supplies. 
These  recent  wars  show  that  whole  provinces,  and  whole  countries,  may  he 
"besieged,"  and  that  almost  any  sort  of  goods  may  become  "military 
supplies." 

2  This  maxim  had  been  set  up  by  Holland  in  1650,  and  agreed  to  by  northern 
European  nations  in  1780,  except  for  England's  opposition.  War  on  land  has 
long  recognized,  in  considerable  degree,  that  private  property  should  be  taken 
by  a  hostile  army  only  as  a  necessary  war  measure,  not  merely  for  plunder. 
At  sea,  this  civilizing  doctrine  has  made  slower  progress,  and  piratical  customs 
have  continued. 


338  FOREIGN  RELATIONS,   1793-1800  [§  402 

better  treatment  there.  These  deserters  were  often  protected  by 
fraudulent  papers  of  "  citizenship,"  easily  secured  in  American 
ports.  English  vessels  claimed  the  right  to  search  American 
ships  and  to  take  back  such  sailors.  Soon  the  practice  was 
extended  to  the  impressment  of  other  British  subjects' found 
there,  and  even  to  those  who  had  been  legally  "  naturalized  " 
by  American  law.1  Worse  still,  in  irritation  at  the  American 
encouragement  to  their  deserters,  English  officers  sometimes 
impressed  born  Americans,  either  by  mistake  or  by  set  purpose. 

402.  The  "  right  of  search  ' '  exists.  In  time  of  war,  a  war  vessel  of  either 
power  may  stop  and  search  a  neutral  trading  vessel  to  find  out  (1)  whether 
it  really  is  a  neutral  vessel  as  its  flag  proclaims ;  (2)  whether  it  is  bound 
for  any  blockaded  port ;  (3)  whether  it  carries  "contraband."  If  "strong 
presumption  "  is  found  against  the  vessel  on  any  of  these  points,  it  may 
be  carried  to  a  "prize  court "  for  trial;  and  if  there  adjudged  guilty,  it 
becomes  "lawful  prize."  But  no  "right  of  search"  applies  to  seizing 
people;  and  the  "right"  must  always  be  exercised  with  discretion  and 
without  unduly  embarrassing  neutral  trade. 

403.  All  England's  invasions  of  neutral  rights  were  attempted 
by  other  European  belligerents  also ;   but  England's  navy  was 
the  only  one  able  to  injure  us  seriously.     As  scores  of  American 
vessels  with  valuable  cargoes  were  swept  into  British  prize 
courts,  American  feeling  rose  to  war  heat.     In  the  spring  of 
1794  Congress  laid  a  temporary  embargo  upon  all  American 
shipping  (that  it  might  not  be  caught  at  sea,  without  warning, 
by  the  expected  war),  and  threatened  to  seize  all  moneys  in 
America  due  British   creditors,   to  offset  British  seizures  of 
American  ships.     This  would  have  meant  war. 

404.  That  disaster  was  averted  only  by  the  calm  resolution  of 
Washington.       He  appointed  John  Jay  special  envoy  to   ne 
gotiate  with  England  ;  and  in  November,  1794,  "  Jay's  Treaty  " 
was  ready  for  ratification.     By  its  terms,  impressment  was  not 
mentioned  nor  blockade  defined.     England  had  her  way,  too,  as 

1  England  denied  the  right  of  an  Englishman  to  change  his  allegiance  :  — 
"Once  an  Englishman,  always  an  Englishman."  The  American  contention 
of  a  man's  right  to  change  his  citizenship  by  "  naturalization  "  has  prevailed. 


§  406]  THE  JAY  TREATY   OF   1794  339 

to  contraband  and  neutral  ships  ;  but  she  agreed  to  vacate  the 
Northwest  posts,  to  open  to  American  trade  her  West  India 
ports  under  certain  restrictions,1  and  to  pay  American  citizens 
for  recent  seizures  of  ships  and  goods.  The  American  govern 
ment  dropped  the  claim  for  compensation  for  the  deported 
Negroes,  and  promised  to  pay  the  British  creditors  who  had 
not  been  able  to  collect  pre-Eevolutionary  debts. 

It  took  all  Washington's  influence  to  get  the  treaty  ratified  in  the  Senate. 
Among  the  people,  excitement  and  opposition  were  intense.  Jay  was 
burned  in  effigy.  Hamilton  was  stoned  from  a  public  platform  where  he 
advocated  ratification.  Washington  himself  once  more  was  heaped  with 
vituperation.  The  Virginia  legislature  voted  down  a  resolution  expressing 
trust  in  her  greatest  son,  and  the  national  House  of  Representatives  struck 
out  the  customary  words  "  undiminished  confidence  "  from  an  address  to 
him. 

405.  The  treaty  certainly  left  much  to  be  desired ;  but  at 
worst  it  was  well  worth  while.     America  secured  undisputed 
possession  of  her  full  territory  and  satisfaction  for  commercial 
injuries.     For  other  matters,  we  gained  what  we  needed  most 
—  time.     To   our   new   and  unprepared   nation,  war   at  that 
moment   would   have   been  ruin.      The   treaty   permitted   an 
honorable  escape.     Moreover,  one  feature  of  the  treaty  was  a 
distinct  step  onward  for  civilization.     It  provided  for  the  first 
instance  of  international  arbitration  in  the  modern  sense  (§  406). 

406.  The  treaty  of  1783  had  named  the  St.  Croix  Kiver  as 
the  boundary  of  Maine  from  the  sea  to  the  highlands.     But 

1  England  offered  to  open  the  West  India  ports  to  American  trade,  but  only 
to  small  coasting  vessels,  and  upon  condition  that  America  promise  for  twelve 
years  not  to  export  to  any  part  of  the  world  molasses,  sugar,  coffee,  cocoa,  or 
cotton.  The  English  intention,  probably,  was  simply  to  maintain  her  naviga 
tion  system  with  regard  to  other  countries,  by  making  sure  that  American 
vessels,  admitted  to  the  Island  ports,  should  not  carry  the  products  of  those 
colonies  to  other  parts  of  the  world  as  well  as  to  the  United  States,  and  that 
such  products,  after  being  brought  to  the  United  States,  should  not  be 
reexported.  Jay  seems  to  have  been  ignorant  that  these  restrictions  would 
hamper  American  commerce.  The  twelfth  article  of  the  treaty,  containing 
this  trade  provision,  was  cutout  by  the  Senate  before  ratification. 


340  THE  JAY  TREATY   OF   1794  [§  407 

that  unexplored  region  contained  several  rivers  bearing  that 
name.  The  treaty-map,  with  its  red-ink  drawings,  had  been 
lost.  And  several  thousand  square  miles  of  territory  had 
fallen  into  honest  dispute. 

The  treaty  of  1794  submitted  the  matter  to  adjudication  by  a 
commission  (two  men  chosen  by  each  power,  they  to  have 
authority  to  choose  a  fifth).  Each  nation  pledged  itself  in 
advance  to  abide  by  the  award.  The  commission  was  to  act  as 
an  international  court,  with  somewhat  of  judicial  procedure. 
It  was  not  to  be  merely  a  meeting  of  diplomats,  to  make  a 
bargain  or  to  seek  out  a  compromise.  It  was  to  examine  evi 
dence  and  hear  argument,  and  was  sworn  to  do  justice  according 
to  the  real  merits  of  the  case,  as  an  ordinary  court  decides  title 
to  property  between  private  claimants. 

This  rational  agreement  called  forth  violent  outcry.  In 
England,  the  ministry  were  assailed  for  "basely  sacrificing 
British  honor  " ;  and,  on  this  side  the  water,  there  was  much 
senseless  clamor  about  "  not  surrendering  American  soil  with 
out  first  fighting  to  the  last  drop  of  our  blood."  To  such  silly, 
question-begging  pretense  of  patriotism,  Hamilton's  reply  was 
unanswerable :  "  It  would  be  a  horrid  and  destructive  principle 
that  nations  could  not  terminate  a  dispute  about  a  parcel  of 
territory  by  peaceful  arbitration,  but  only  by  war." 

III.    RELATIONS   WITH  SPAIN 

407.  Spanish  troubles  have  been  treated  in  earlier  chapters. 
In  1795,  after  vigorous  negotiation,  backed  at  last  by  threats 
of  war,  the  Pinckney  Treaty  secured  what  seemed  on  paper  a 
fairly  satisfactory  adjustment.  Spain  (1)  recognized  the  thirty- 
first  parallel  as  the  northern  boundary  of  Florida  (§  290) ; 
(2)  bound  herself  to  restrain  Indian  hostilities ;  (3)  promised 
the  "  right  of  deposit "  at  New  Orleans  (§  305)  ;  and  (4)  agreed 
to  pay  for  previous  seizures  there.  In  practice,  it  is  true, 
Spanish  officials  continued  the  old  abuses  against  American 
trade. 


§409] 


INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 


341 


IV.  RENEWED   TROUBLES   WITH   FRANCE 

408.  France   had   confidently   expected   our   troubles   with 
England  to  lead  to  war.     She  was  bitterly  angered,  therefore, 
at   the   Jay  Treaty.     Her   government,  in  a  violent   protest, 
charged  the  United  States  with  weakness  and  bad  faith,  and 
insultingly  refused  to  receive   Pinckney,  who   had   been  ap 
pointed   our  minister  at   Paris.     Soon   France  withdrew  her 
minister  from  America,  and,  to  the  full  extent  of  her  power 
began  aggressions  upon  our  commerce. 

409.  The  administration   of  John  Adams  (1797-1801)  found 
things  at  this  pass ;  and  it  was  occupied  almost  wholly  by 
these  troubles  and  by  the 

disputes  at  home  growing 
out  of  them.  The  Presi 
dent  sent  Gerry,  Pinck 
ney,  and  John  Marshall 
to  France  to  negotiate  a 
settlement.  The  new 
French  government  (the 
Directory)  first  ignored 
these  gentlemen,  and  then, 
through  secret  agents, 
tried  to  intimidate  them 
and  to  demand  tribute 
in  money  for  their  own 
private  pockets. 

The  publication  of  this 
infamous  "X.  Y.  Z."  1  mat 
ter  silenced  the  friends  of 
France  in  America  and 
fanned  popular  indigna 
tion  to  white  heat.  Pinckney's  famous  phrase,  "  Millions  for 
defense,  but  not  a  cent  for  tribute,"  became  the  grim  byword 


JOHN  ADAMS.  From  the  portrait  by  Stuart, 
now  in  the  collections  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society. 


1  The  American  ministers,  in  their  dispatches  home,  mentioned  the  French 
negotiators  by  these  initials  only. 


342  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION,    1797-1801         [§  410 

of  the  hour.  Even  the  Southern  States  elected  Federalist  con 
gressmen  ;  and,  in  1798,  the  Federalists  once  more  gained 
possession  for  a  moment  of  all  branches  of  the  government. 

410.  In  the  summer  of  1798,  preparations  for  war  were  hastened. 
Warships  were   built,  and   the   army  was   reorganized,  with 
Washington  as  commander  in  chief  and  Hamilton  as  his  second 
in  command.     War  was  not  formally  declared,  but  it  did  exist 
in  fact.     Scores  of  ships  were  commissioned  as  privateers,  to 
prey  upon  French  merchantmen  ;  and  the  United  States  frigate 
Constellation  fought  and  captured  the  French  Vengeance. 

411.  At  this   moment,  in   a   roundabout  way,  the   French 
government  hinted  that  it  would  be  glad  to  renew  negotiations. 
Adams  had  won  great  applause  by  a  declaration,  "  I  will  never 
send  another  minister  to  France  without  assurance  that  he  will 
be  received,  respected,  and  honored  as  becomes  the  represent 
ative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful,  and  independent  nation."     But 
now  the  patriotic  President  threw  away  his  popularity  and  the 
chance  predominance  of  his  party,  in  order  to  save  the  country 
from  war.     Without  even  the  knowledge  of  his  Cabinet,  he 
appointed  another  embassy  ;  and  the  treaty  of  1800  secured  our 
trade,  for  the  time,  from  further  French  aggression. 

Adams'  courage  in  this  matter  is  perhaps  his  highest  claim 
to  grateful  remembrance.  He  himself  proposed  for  his  epi 
taph,  "  Here  lies  John  Adams,  who  took  upon  himself  the 
responsibility  for  the  peace  with  France,  in  1800." 

EXERCISE.  —  The  troubles  of  this  period  were  soon  to  break  forth 
again,  with  the  renewal  of  war  in  Europe,  and  to  grow  in  intensity  until 
the  War  of  1812.  Many  of  the  questions  gained  new  interest  from  the 
great  European  war  of  1914.  The  teacher  should  see  that  the  class  can 
use  intelligently  such  terms  as  treaty,  alliance,  neutrality,  blockade,  con 
traband,  search,  "minister,"  ambassador  (distinguishing  between  the 
last  two  and  consuls). 

Walker's  Making  of  the  Nation  has  an  admirable  brief  treatment  of  our 
foreign  relations  in  this  period.  All  the  larger  histories  give  much  space 
to  the  topic.  C.  R.  Fish's  American  Diplomacy  is  about  the  only  special 
treatise  that  high-school  students  can  use  for  this  period, 


CHAPTER   XXXVII 

DOMESTIC   TROUBLES,    1797-1800 

412.  The  preparation  for  war,  at  the  opening  of  Adams'  ad 
ministration,  made  more  revenue  necessary.    Congress  raised  the 
tariff  rates,  passed  a  Stamp  Act,  and  apportioned  a  "direct 
tax  "  of  $  2,000,000  among  the  States. 

This  last  measure  resulted  in  Fries'  Rebellion.  In  assessing 
the  new  tax,  houses  were  valued  according  to  their  size  and 
the  number  of  their  windows.  Officers  were  frequently  resisted 
in  their  attempts  to.  measure  houses,  and  slops  were  sometimes 
poured  upon  their  heads  from  the  windows.  In  Pennsylvania 
a  number  of  the  rioters  were  arrested.  They  were  promptly 
rescued  by  armed  men  led  by  a  certain  Fries.  Adams  thought 
it  necessary  to  call  out  an  army  to  repress  the  "  insurrection." 
Fries  was  condemned  to  be  hung  for  treason,  but  was  pardoned 
by  the  President  —  to  the  indignation  of  leading  Federalists, 
who  clamored  for  an  "  example." 1 

413.  Political  controversy  had  grown  excessively  bitter.     Re 
publican   editors   poured   forth   upon   the  President  and  his 
administration  abuse  which  in  our  better-mannered  era  would 
be  regarded  as  blackguardism.     The  Federalists  retorted  with 
language  equally  foul,  and  tried  to  gag  their  opponents  with 
the  notorious  "  alien  and  sedition  "  laws,  —  repressive,  tyranni 
cal,  dangerous  to  the  spirit  of  free  institutions. 

Aliens  had  been  required  to  live  in  the  United  States  Jive 
years  before  they  could  be  naturalized :  a  new  Naturalization 
Act  raised  this  period  to  fourteen  years.  An  Alien  law 

1  Adams  himself  had  blamed  Washington  severely  for  pardoning  the  leaders 
of  the  Whisky  Rebellion.  On  the  question  of  whether  Fries'  conduct  really 
constituted  "  treason,"  cf.  Walker's  Making  of  the  Nation,  147. 

343 


344  ALIEN  AND  SEDITION   LAWS  [§  414 

authorized  the  President,  without  trial,1  to  order  out  of  the 
country  "  any  aliens  he  shall  judge  dangerous  to  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  United  States,"  and,  if  they  remained,  to  imprison 
them  "  so  long  as,  in  the  opinion  of  the  President,  the  public 
safety  may  require."  The  Sedition  Law  provided  fine  and 
imprisonment  for  "  combining "  to  oppose  measures  of  the 
government,  and  for  "  any  false,  scandalous,  or  malicious  writ 
ing  against  the  government "  or  against  its  high  officials,  "  with 
intent  to  bring  them  into  disrepute." 

Seditious  utterance  and  slander  were  already  punishable  in  State  courts, 
under  the  Common  Law.  But,  since  the  Zenger  trial  (§  191),  prosecutions 
of  this  sort  for  political  utterances  had  become  obsolete  in  America.  The 
people,  with  sound  instinct,  had  preferred  to  endure  some  bad  manners, 
rather  than  to  imperil  liberty.  This  reenactment  of  obsolete  practice  by 
a  National  law,  to  be  enforced  in  the  government's  own  courts,  was  in 
conflict,  in  spirit  at  least,  with  the  first  amendment. 

414.  President  Adams  took  no  part  in  securing  these  laws ; 
and  he  made  no  use  of  the  Alien  Act.     But  Federalist  judges 
showed  a  sinister  disposition  to  stifle  criticism  of  their  political 
party  by  securing  convictions  under  the  Sedition  law.     Mathew 
Lyon,  a  Vermont   editor,   charged   Adams  with   "unbounded 
thirst  for  ridiculous  pomp  and  for  foolish  adulation  "  and  with 
"  selfish  avarice."    For  these  words,  he  was  punished  by  im 
prisonment  for  four  months  and  by  a  fine  of  $1000.     Nine  other 
convictions  followed  in  the  few  months  remaining  of  Federalist 
rule. 

415.  The  Republicans  turned  for  protection 2  to  the  State  govern 
ments.     The   Federalists,  drunk  with  power,  had  threatened 

1  The  denial  of  jury  trial  was  defended  on  the  ground  that  the  Sixth 
Amendment  applied  only  to  "citizens." 

2 Jefferson  wrote  to  George  Mason  (Works,  Washington  ed.,  IV,  257) :  "I 
consider  those  laws  only  an  experiment  on  the  American  mind  to  see  how  far 
it  will  bear  an  avowed  violation  of  the  Constitution.  If  this  goes  down,  we 
shall  see  attempted  another  act  of  Congress  declaring  that  the  President  shall 
continue  in  office  during  life,  reserving  to  another  occasion  the  transfer  of  the 
succession  to  his  heirs  and  the  establishment  of  the  Senate  for  life.  That 
these  things  are  in  contemplation,  I  have  no  doubt." 


§  415]  THE   KENTUCKY  RESOLUTIONS  345 

tyranny:  the  Republicans,  in  panic,  sought  refuge  in  the 
doctrine  of  State  sovereignty.  Multitudes  of  popular  meetings 
denounced  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  properly  enough  ;  and 
the  Republican  legislatures  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky x  suggested 
Nullification  as  a  remedy. 

[  Tlie  following  page  may  be  discussed  with  books  open.~\ 

The  Virginia  Resolutions  called  upon  the  other  States  to  join  in 
declaring  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts  unconstitutional  and 
therefore  void.  Just  how  the  laws  were  to  be  made  void 
was  not  clearly  stated  ;  but  the  resolutions  affirmed  :  — 

"  That,  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise  [by  the 
Central  government]  of  ...  powers  not  granted  by  the  said  compact  [the 
Constitution],  the  States  .  .  .  have  the  right,  and  are  in  duty  bound,  to 
interpose.'1'1 

The  first  Kentucky  Resolutions  affirmed  :  — 

(1)  "  That  whensoever  the  General  Government  assumes  undelegated 
powers,  its  acts  are  unauthoritative,  void,  and  of  no  force"  ;  (2)  "that 
the  government  created  by  this  compact  [the  Constitution]  was  not  made 
the  exclusive  or  final  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  itself, 
since  that  would  have  made  its  discretion,  and  not  the  Constitution,  the 
measure  of  its  powers"  ;  (3)  "that  to  this  compact  each  State  acceded 
as  a  State,  and  is  an  integral  party,  its  co-States  forming  .  .  .  the  other 
party  "  ;  (4)  "that,  as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact  among  parties  having 
no  common  judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well 
of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress"  ;  and  (5)  "that 
this  Commonwealth  is  determined,  as  it  doubts  not  its  co-States  are, 
tamely  to  submit  to  undelegated  .  .  .  powers  in  no  ...  body  of  men 
on  earth." 

The  only  action  suggested  by  the  Resolutions  is  that  the  other 
States  "  unite  with  this  Commonwealth  in  requesting  the  repeal 
[of  the  objectionable  legislation]  at  the  next  session  of  Con- 

1  Jefferson  wrote  the  first  draft  of  the  resolutions  for  Kentucky ;  Madisou, 
for  Virginia,  in  somewhat  gentler  form.  Indeed,  the  first  set  of  Kentucky 
Resolutions,  in  1798,  did  not  contain  the  word  Nullification,  though  it  was 
used  in  debate,  but  it  appeared  explicitly  in  a  second  set,  in  1799, 


346  THE   KENTUCKY  RESOLUTIONS,    1799         [§  416 

gress."  *     In  the  debate,  however,  the  leading  advocate  of  the 
Resolutions  added :  — 

"  If  upon  the  representations  of  the  States,  from  whom  they  derive  their 
powers,  they  [Congress]  should  nevertheless  attempt  to  enforce  [those 
laws],  I  hesitate  not  to  declare  it  as  my  opinion  that  it  is  then  the  right 
and  the  duty  of  the  several  States  to  nullify  those  acts,  and  to  protect  their 
citizens  from  their  operation.  But  I  hope  and  trust  such  an  event  will 
never  happen,  and  that  Congress  will  always  have  sufficient  virtue, 
wisdom,  and  prudence,  upon  the  representation  of  a  majority  of  the  States, 
to  expunge  all  obnoxious  laws." 

Apparently,  this  leader  did  not  mean  nullification  by  one  State,  unless 
a  majority  of  States  favored  such  action.  Had  he  made  the  proportion  three 
fourths,  he  would  have  had  the  number  of  States  necessary  to  override  a 
law  by  constitutional  amendment.  ''Nullification"  in  these  resolutions  is 
a  vague  thing,  —  vastly  different  from  the  precise  and  definite  claim  of 
Calhoun  in  1830  as  to  the  right  of  any  State  to  act  upon  its  own  judg 
ment  (§  579). 

416.  The  war  frenzy  of  1798-1799  had  momentarily  put  the 
Federalists  in  control  of  most  of  the  State  legislatures.  This 
explains  why  the  Southern  States  in  general  made  no  response 
to  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  appeals.  Several  Northern  legis 
latures  condemned  those  Resolutions  severely, — denying  the 
Kentucky  doctrine  that  there  was  "  no  common  judge  "  between 
a  State  and  the  Union,  and  affirming  that  the  Supreme  Court 
filled  that  position. 

This,  of  course,  has  come  now  to  be  the  universal  belief.  In 
that  day,  however,  the  doctrine  that  there  was  "no  common 
judge  "  was  not  surprising.  The  Supreme  Court  itself  had  riot 
yet  used  the  power  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  the 
Acts  of  Congress.  It  had  not  even  claimed  that  right,  and  was 
not  to  do  so  for  some  more  years  (§  451).  And  fifteen  years 
later  the  New  England  States,  that  now  asserted  its  power, 
denied  it  fiercely  —  in  the  precise  words  of  the  Kentucky  Reso 
lutions  (§  482). 

1  MacDonald's  Select  Documents  gives  these  Resolutions  and  also  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  laws  (pp.  137  ff.). 


§  417]  "  NULLIFICATION "  347 

417.  it  is  well,  however,  for  the  student,  at  this  stage,  to  realize  that 
nullification,  whether  of  Jefferson's  brand  in  1798,  or  New  England's  in 
1814,  or  Calhoun's  in  1830,  was  absurd  in  logic,  and  would  have  been 
anarchic  in  practice.  Any  group  of  citizens  or  of  States  which  feels  itself 
sufficiently  oppressed,  has  the  natural  right  to  rebel,  and  to  change  the 
government  by  revolution,  if  it  can,  —  as  America  did  in  1776.  The  right 
of  revolution  is  the  fundamental  guarantee  for  liberty  in  organized  society. 
The  question  regarding  it  is  never  one  of  abstract  right  but  always  of  con 
crete  righteousness  under  given  conditions.  In  result,  too,  revolution  means 
either  that  the  government  will  be  confirmed,  or  that  another  government 
will  be  substituted  for  it.  But  nullification  meant  a  constitutional  right 
to  reduce  the  government  to  a  shadow  while  claiming  its  protection. 

EXERCISE  —  Recent  events  give  interest  to  the  fact  that  the  two  objec 
tionable  laws  regarding  aliens,  named  above,  were  accompanied  by  a  third 
"Alien  Act"  regarding  " alien  enemies."  This  last  law  was  highly 
proper,  and  is  still  in  force.  It  authorizes  the  President  to  expel  from 
the  country,  or  in  other  ways  to  treat  as  enemies,  all  resident  aliens  who 
are  citizens  of  a  country  with  which  we  are  at  war,  if  he  think  such  action 
needful. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII 
EXPIRING  FEDERALISM 

The  blunder  of  the  Federalists  [in  passing  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
Acts']  wasjiot  an  accidental  one.  ...  It  was  thoroughly  characteristic. 
It  sprang  out  of  a  distrust  of  the  masses  ;  a  belief  that  the  people  must 
always  be  repressed  or  led;  a  reliance  on  Powers,  Estates,  and  Vested 
Interests  within  the  Commonwealth;  a  readiness  to  use  force;  —  all  of 
which  were  of  the  essence  of  the  aristocratic  politics  of  the  last  quarter  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  — WALKER,  Making  of  the  Nation. 

418.  The  Federalist  leaders  had  fallen  into  foolish  blunders 
(like  the  house  tax)  because  they  did  not  understand  popular 
feeling  ;  and  they  had  attempted  reactionary  and  despotic  meas 
ures  (like  the  Sedition  Act)  because  they  did  not  believe  in 
popular  government.     They  were  out  of  touch  with  the  most 
wholesome  tendency  of  the  times.     The  brief  reactionary  move 
ment  of  1783-1793  was  dying,  and  the  people  had  resumed  their 
march  toward  democracy.     Patriotism  had  temporarily  rallied 
the  nation  to  the  support  of  the  Federalist  administration  when 
that  administration  had  been  insulted  by  the  arrogant  French 
Directory ;  but  with  the  passing  of  that  foreign  danger,  passed 
also  the  chance  of  further  Federalist  rule. 

419.  For  the  election  of  1800,  the  Federalists  tried  to  bolster 
their  cause  by  inducing  Washington  to  be  a  candidate  once 
more.      His  refusal  and  his  sudden  death  threw  them  back 
upon  Adams,  whose  old  Revolutionary  popularity  made  him 
still  their  most  available  man.    The  Republican  candidates  were 
Jefferson  and  Burr  (the  latter  a  sharp  New  York  politician). 

Lacking  true  majorities  the  Federalists  strove  to  manufacture 
false  ones.  The  electoral  vote  finally  stood  only  73  to  65  against 
them;  but  20  of  these  65  electors  they  got  by  disreputable 
trickery,  against  the  will  of  the  people. 

348 


§  421]  ELECTION  OF   1800  349 

420.  Of  several  instances,  only  one  can  be  told  here.    In  Pennsylvania 
the  new  House  of  Representatives  was  strongly  Republican  ;  but  hold 
over  members,  from  the  war-election,  kept  the  Senate  Federalist.1    So 
far,  that  State  had  always  chosen  its  electors  by  popular  vote.     This  time 
the  Senate  would  not  agree  to  the  necessary  law  (since  that  method  would 
give  most  of  the  districts  to  the  Republicans).     There  being  no  law  on  the 
matter,  it  was  then  necessary  for  the  legislature  itself  to  choose  electors. 
All  elections  by  that  body  had  been  by  joint  ballot,  but  the  Senate  now 
insisted  upon  a  concurrent  vote  (cf.  §  365).     It  finally  compromised  upon 
a  scheme  which  allowed  it  to  name  seven  of  the  fifteen  electors. 

This  shabby  trick  —  a  deliberate  violation  of  a  popular  mandate  —  was 
loudly  applauded  by  the  Federalists  as  lofty  patriotism.  The  Philadelphia 
United  States  Gazette  said  of  the  Federalist  Senators :  "  [They]  deserve 
the  praises  and  blessings  of  all  America.  They  have  checked  the  mad 
enthusiasm  of  a  deluded  populace.  .  .  .  They  have  saved  a  falling 
world." 

421.  When  it  was  plain  that  the  people  had  turned   the 
Federalists  out  of  all  the  elective  branches  of  the  government, 
the  expiring  and  repudiated  Congress  and  President  used  the  few 
days  left  them  unscrupulously  to  entrench  their  party  in  the  ap 
pointive  judiciary,  —  "that  part  of  the  government  upon  which 
all  the  rest  hinges." 

The  infamous  Judiciary  Act  of  1801  had  three  main  parts. 
(1)  To  lessen  Jefferson's  chances  of  making  appointments  to 
the  Supreme  Court  it  provided  that  the  first  vacancy  should 
not  be  filled,  but  that  the  number  of  Justices  should  at  that 
future  time  be  reduced  by  one.  (2)  New  Circuit  Courts  were 
created  (§  372),  and  the  number  of  circuits  was  increased  to 
six,  with  three  judges  for  each  except  the  last.  This  made 
places  for  sixteen  new  judges,  to  be  immediately  appointed  by 
Adams  in  the  remaining  nineteen  days  of  his  administration. 
(3)  The  number  of  District  Courts  was  increased  from  thirteen 
to  twenty-three,  making  places  for  eight  more  such  appoint 
ments.  In  addition,  of  course,  there  were  clerks  and  mar 
shals  to  be  named  for  all  these  new  courts. 

1  In  a  new  constitution,  in  1790,  Pennsylvania  exchanged  its  one-House 
legislature  for  the  prevalent  two-chambered  system. 


350  DYING  FEDERALISM,    1800-1801  [§  422 

The  Federalists  justified  the  bill  flimsily  by  urging  the  need  of  the 
separate  circuit  courts  to  protect  the  "overworked"  Supreme  Court 
Justices.  But,  in  plain  fact,  the  Supreme  Court  had  never  been  over 
worked.  It  had  then  only  ten  cases  before  it,  and,  in  the  preceding  ten 
years  of  its  life,  it  had  had  fewer  cases  than  are  customary  in  one  year 
now.  The  weakness  of  the  Federalist  argument  appears  in  the  fact  that 
the  bill  ivas  repealed  at  once  (§  447)  and  the  old  order  was  restored  and 
maintained  seventy  years  longer. 

422.  Adams  was  not  able  to  make  his  last  appointments 
under  the  new  law  until  late  on  the  last  evening  of  his  term  of 
office  ;  and  the  judges  so  appointed  have  gone  in  history  by  the 
name  of  "the  Midnight  Judges."     One  of  the  worst  features  of 
a  thoroughly  bad  business  was  that  these  appointments  were  used 
to  take  care  of  Federalist  politicians  now  thrown  out  of  any  other 
job.     The  Constitution  prevented  the  appointment  of  members 
of  the  expiring  Congress  to  any  of  the  new  judgeships  just 
created  by  them  (Art.  I,  sec.  6) ;  but  this  provision  was  evaded 
with  as  little  compunction  as  went  to  thwarting  the  will  of  the 
people.      Former  District  judges  were  promoted  to  the  new 
Circuit  judgeships,    and   their  former  places   were   filled  by 
"  retired  "  Federalist  congressmen.    The  Federalists,  exclaimed 
John  Eandolph,  had  turned  the  judiciary  into  "  a  hospital  for 
decayed  politicians." 

The  people  at  the  polls  had  repudiated  certain  men  for  government 
positions  ;  but  President  Adams,  the  people's  representative,  thought  it 
proper  to  place  those  men  in  more  important  government  positions  for  life, 
where  the  people  could  not  touch  them.  This  sad  abuse  of  the  Presiden 
tial  power  has  had  much  later  imitation.  Such  a  practice  is  repugnant 
to  every  principle  of  representative  government 

423.  The  desperate  Federalists  tried  also  to  rob  the  majority 
of  its  choice  for  the  Presidency.     This  led  almost  to  civil  war. 
Jefferson   and   Burr   had   received    the   same   electoral   vote. 
Every  Kepublican  had  intended  Jefferson  for  President  and 
Burr  for  second  place ;  but,  under  the  clumsy  provision  of  the 
Constitution  (§  390)  the  election  between  these  two  was  now  left 


§  425]  ELECTION   OF  JEFFERSON  351 

to  the  old  House  of  Representatives,  in  which  the  Federalists 
had  their  expiring  war  majority.1 

The  Federalists  planned  to  create  a  deadlock  and  prevent 
any  election  until  after  March  4.  Then  they  could  declare 
government  at  a  standstill  and  elect  the  presiding  officer  of 
the  old  Senate  as  President  of  the  country.  Jefferson  wrote 
at  the  time  that  they  were  kept  from  this  attempt  only  by 
definite  threats  that  it  would  be  the  signal  for  the  Middle  States 
to  arm  and  call  a  convention  to  revise  the  Constitution. 

424.  The  Federalists  then  tried  another  trick  which  would 
equally  have  cheated  the  nation  of  its  will.      The  House  of 
Representatives  had  the  legal  right  to  choose  Burr  for  President, 
instead  of  Jefferson.     It  seemed  bent  upon  doing  so  ;  but  Hamil 
ton  rendered  his  last  great  service  to  his  country  by  opposing  and 
preventing  such  action.2     So,  after  a  delay  of  five  weeks,  and 
thirty-six  ballotings,  the  House  chose  Jefferson  President.     Early 
in  the  next  Congress  the  Twelfth  amendment  was  proposed  and 
ratified,  for  naming  separately  President  and  Vice  President 
on  the  electoral  ballots. 

425.  The  fatal  fault  of  the  Federalist  leaders  was  their  funda 
mental   disbelief   in  popular   government.      After  Jefferson's 
victory,  in  1800,  this  feeling  found  violent  expression.     Fisher 
Ames,  a  Boston  idol,  declared :    "  Our  country  is  too   big  for 
union,  too  sordid  for  patriotism,  too  democratic  for  liberty.  .  .  . 
Its   vice  will   govern  it.  ...     This  is  ordained  for  democ 
racies."     Cabot,  another  Massachusetts  leader,  affirmed,  "We 
are  democratic  altogether,  and  I  hold  democracy,  in  its  natural 
operation,  to  be  the  government  of  the  worst."     And  Hamilton 
is   reported    to    have    exclaimed,    pounding   the    table   with 
clenched   fist :    "  The   people,   sir !     Your   people   is   a  great 

1  The  new  House,  elected  some  months  before,  but  not  to  meet  for  nearly  a 
year  longer,  was  overwhelmingly  Republican  ;  but,  by  our  awkward  arrange 
ment,  the  repudiated  party  remained  in  control  at  a  critical  moment. 

2  Hamilton  does  not  seem  to  have  felt  the  enormity  of  the  proposed  viola 
tion  of  the  nation's  will ;  but  he  knew  Burr  to  be  a  reckless  political  adventurer, 
and  thought  his  election  more  dangerous  to  the  country  than  even  the  dreaded 
election  of  Jefferson. 


352  DYING  FEDERALISM,    1800-1801  [§  426 

beast."     Dennie's  Portfolio,  the  chief  literary  publication  of 
the  time,  railed  at  greater  length :  — 

"Democracy  .  .  .  is  on  trial  here,  and  the  issue  will  be  civil  war, 
desolation,  and  anarchy.  No  wise  man  but  discerns  its  imperfections ; 
no  good  man  but  shudders  at  its  miseries  ;  no  honest  man  but  proclaims 
its  fraud  ;  and  no  brave  man  but  draws  his  sword  against  its  force." 

And  Theodore  Dwight  of  Connecticut  (brother  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  Yale  College),  in  a  Fourth  of  July  oration,  asserted  :  — 

"The  great  object  of  Jacobinism1  ...  is  to  destroy  every  trace  of 
civilization  in  the  world,  and  force  mankind  back  into  a  savage  state. 
.  .  .  We  have  a  country  governed  by  blockheads  and  knaves ;  the  ties 
of  marriage  are  severed  and  destroyed;  our  wives  and  daughters  are 
thrown  into  the  stews;  our  children  are  cast  into  the  world  from  the 
breast  and  forgotten  ;  filial  piety  is  extinguished  ;  and  our  surnames,  the 
only  mark  of  distinction  among  families,  are  abolished.  Can  the  imagi 
nation  paint  anything  more  dreadful  on  this  side  hell  ?  " 

It  was  but  a  step  from  such  twaddle  to  suspect  Jefferson  of 
designs  upon  the  property  or  the  life  of  Federalist  leaders. 
Gouverneur  Morris7  diary  for  1804  contains  the  passage : 
"Wednesday,  January  18,  I  dined  at  [Eufus]  King's  with 
General  Hamilton.  .  .  .  They  were  both  alarmed  at  the  con 
duct  of  our  rulers,  and  think  the  Constitution  about  to  be 
overthrown :  I  think  it  already  overthrown.  They  apprehend 
a  bloody  anarchy  :  I  apprehend  an  anarchy  in  which  property, 
not  lives,  will  be  sacrificed."  And  Fisher  Ames  wrote  :  "  My 
health  is  good  for  nothing,  but ...  if  the  Jacobins  make 
haste,  I  may  yet  live  to  be  hanged."  In  1804,  in  a  Connecticut 
town,  an  applauded  Fourth  of  July  toast  to  the  "  President  of 
the  United  States  "  ran  —  "  Thomas  Jefferson :  may  he  receive 
from  his  fellow  citizens  the  reward  of  his  merit  —  a  halter  !  " 

426.  These  faults  must  not  obscure  the  vast  service  the 
Federalists  had  rendered.  Alexander  Hamilton  is  the  hero  of  the 
twelve-year  Federalist  period.  He  should  be  judged  in  the  main 
by  his  work  in  the  years  1789-1793.  During  that  critical  era, 

1  A  term  borrowed  from  the  French  Revolution,  and  applied  to  the  Repub 
licans  by  their  opponents. 


426] 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON 


353 


lie  stood  forth  —  as  no  other  man  of  the  day  could  have  done  — 
as  statesman-general  in  the  conflict  between  order  and  anarchy, 
union  and  disunion.  His  constructive  work  and  his  genius 
for  organization  were 
then  as  indispensable 
to  his  country  as 
Jefferson's  democratic 
faith  and  inspiration 
were  to  be  later.  Ex 
cept  for  Hamilton, 
there  would  hardly 
have  been  a  Nation 
for  Jefferson  to  Ameri 
canize.  We  may  re 
joice  that  Hamilton 
did  not  have  his  whole 
will ;  but  we  must  rec 
ognize  that  the  forces 
he  set  in  motion  made 
the  Union  none  too 
strong  to  withstand 

the  trials  of  the  years     ALEXANDER  HAMILTON.    From  the  painting  by 
that  followed.  Trumbull  in  the  School  of  Fine  Arts  at  Yale. 

Those  centralizing  forces  may  be  summarized  concisely.  The  tre 
mendous  support  of  capital  was  secured  for  almost  any  claim  the  govern 
ment  might  make  to  doubtful  powers.  Congress  set  the  example  of 
exercising  doubtful  and  unenumerated  powers;  and  a  cover  was  devised  for 
such  practice  in  the  doctrine  of  implied  powers.  The  appellate  jurisdiction 
conferred  on  the  Supreme  Court  was  to  enable  it  to  defend  and  extend 
this  doctrine.  Congress  began  to  add  new  States  with  greater  depend 
ence  of  feeling  upon  the  National  government.  And  the  people  at 
large  began  to  feel  a  new  dignity  and  many  material  gains  from  a  strong 
Union. 


PAET   VII 

JEFFEESONIAN  REPUBLICANISM,  1800-1830 


CHAPTER   XXXIX 

AMERICA  IN   1800 

427.  From  Jefferson  to  Lincoln,  six  great  lines  of  growth  mark 
our  history  :  our  territory  expanded  tremendously  ;  we  won  our 
intellectual  independence  from  Old  World  opinion  ;   democracy 
spread  and  deepened  ;  our  industrial  system  grew  vastly  com 
plex;  slavery  was  abolished;   and  Nationalism  triumphed  over 
disunion. 

428.  Territorial  expansion  was  the  warp  through  which  ran 
the  other  threads  of  growth.     The  expansion  of   civilization 
into  waste  spaces  marked  world  history  in  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury.     England   and   Russia   led   in  the   movement  ;  but  not 
even  for  them  was  this  growth  so  much  the  soul  of  things  as 
it  was  for  us. 

It  made  us  truly  American.  Our  tidewater  communities  re 
mained  "  colonial  "  in  feeling  long  after  they  became  inde 
pendent  politically,  —  still  hanging  timorously  on  Old-World 
approval.  Only  when  our  people  had  climbed  the  mountain 
crests  and  turned  their  faces  in  earnest  to  the  great  West,  did 
they  cease  to  look  to  Europe  for  standards  of  thought. 

It  made  us  democratic.  The  communities  progressive  in 
politics  have  always  been  the  frontier  parts  of  the  country,  — 
first  the  western  sections  of  the  original  States,  and  then  suc 
cessive  layers  of  new  States. 

It  created  our  complex  industrialism,  with  the  dependence  of 

354 


§  429]  EXPANSION  :    ITS  MEANING  355 

one  section  upon  another ;  and  so  it  bf  ought  on  our  conflict  be 
tween  slave  and  free  labor. 

It  fostered  nationality.  The  original  thirteen  States,  scat 
tered  amid  the  forests  and  marshes  of  the  Atlantic  slope,  long 
clung  to  their  jealous,  separatist  tendencies.  But  expansion 
into  the  Mississippi  valley,  wrought  out  by  nature  for  the 
home  of  one  mighty  industrial  empire,  transformed  that  hand 
ful  of  jangling  communities  into  a  continental  nation. 

Europe  is  "  convex  "  toward  the  sky.  Mountains  and  seas  form  many 
walls  and  moats,  and  rivers  disperse  from  the  center  toward  the  extremi 
ties.  And  so  ten  nations  there  divide  an  area  smaller  than  the  Missis 
sippi  valley.  America  is  a  "vast  concave."  Its  mountains  guard  the 
frontiers  only.  Its  streams  concentrate,  and  so  tend  to  unity  industrial 
and  political. 

429.   Throughout  the  nineteenth  century,  Americans  exulted  in 

their  country's  growth.  Sometimes,  it  is  true,  this  exultation 
expressed  itself  clumsily,  as  cheap  spread-eagleism  or  insolent 
jingoism ;  and  well-meaning  critics,  more  refined  than  robust, 
saw  in  the  buoyant  self-confidence  of  the  people  only  vulgar 
and  grotesque  boastfulness  about  material  bigness.  But  the 
plain  people  felt  a  truth  that  the  cultured  critic  missed. 
They  knew  that  this  growth  was  not  mere  growth.  The 
sinewy,  saturnine  frontiersman,  winning  a  home  for  his  chil 
dren  in  the  wilderness  with  his  long  rifle  and  light  axe,  was 
building  also  the  home  needful  for  the  true  life  of  the  nation. 
The  Titanic  struggle  with  a  savage  continent  was  the  great 
American  epic;  and  it  fired  the  heart  and  imagination  of  a 
hardy  race.  First  among  American  writers,  Lowell  fixed  that 
poem  in  words,  —  and  happily  in  the  dialect  of  the  original 
frontiersman :  — 

"  O  strange  New  World  !     That  never  yit  wast  young  ; 
Whose  youth  from  thee  by  grippin'  need  was  wrung  ; 
Brown  foundlin'  o'  the  woods,  whose  baby-bed 
Was  prowled  roun'  by  the  Injun's  cracklin'  tread, 
And  who  grewst  strong  thru  shifts,  and  wants,  and  pains, 
Nursed  by  stern  men  with  empires  in  their  brains, 


356  AMERICA  IN   1800  [§  430 

Who  saw  in  vision  their  young  Ishmael  strain 

In  each  hard  hand  a  vassal  Ocean's  mane  ! 

Thou  taught  by  freedom,  and  by  great  events, 

To  pitch  new  States  as  old- World  men  pitch  tents  !  " 

430.  This  larger  America  had  marvelous  physical  advantages. 
For  communication  with  the  outside  world,  the  two  oceans  and 
the  Gulf  give  to  the  United  States  a  coast  line  equaled  only 
by  Europe's.  Rivers  and  the  shore  of  the  Great  Lakes  add 
19,000  miles  of  navigable  interior  .waterways,  —  a  condition 
absolutely  beyond  parallel  in  any  other  equal  portion  of  the 
globe.  More  than  four  fifths  of  these  water  roads  are  grouped 
in  the  Lake  system  and  the  Mississippi  system.  These  are 
virtually  one  vast  system,  opening  on  the  sea  on  two  sides 
and  draining  more  than  a  million  square  miles  of  territory. 
This  gives  to  cities  a  thousand  miles  inland  the  advantages 
of  seacoast  ports,  and  binds  together,  for  instance,  Pittsburg 
and  Kansas  City,  on  opposite  slopes  of  the  great  valley  a 
thousand  miles  across. 

Above  the  limit  of  navigation,  these  streams,  and  others, 
furnish  an  unrivaled  water  power.  Many  years  ago,  Professor 
Shaler  estimated  that  the  energy  already  derived  from  the 
streams  of  this  country  exceeded  that  from  the  streams  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  world.  This  power  was  of  particular  impor 
tance  in  colonial  days.  Then,  for  a  hundred  years,  it  lost 
value,  relatively,  after  the  invention  of  steam.  But  now, 
with  new  devices  to  turn  it  into  electric  power,  it  looms  again 
a  chief  factor  in  future  wealth. 

The  Appalachian  system  contains  rich  deposits  of  coal  and 
iron  in  close  neighborhood  ;  while  the  Great  Lakes  make  com 
munication  easy  between  Appalachian  coal  and  Lake  Superior 
iron.  Other  mineral  deposits  needful  in  industry  exist  in 
abundance,  well  distributed  over  the  country,  —  copper,  lead, 
zinc,  building  stone,  gold  and  silver,  salt,  phosphates,  clays, 
cements,  graphite,  grindstones,  and  a  small  amount  of  alumi 
num.  In  1800,  great  forests  still  stretched  from  the  Atlantic 
to  Illinois,  Western  Kentucky,  and  Northern  Minnesota ;  and 


430] 


PHYSICAL  ADVANTAGES 


357 


«j* 


358 


AMERICA  IN   1800 


[§431 


the  vast  woods  of  the  Pacific  slope  became  ours  at  a  later 
date. 

431.  The  population   in  1800  counted  5,308,483,  of  whom  a 
fifth  were  slaves.1     Two  thirds  of  the  Whites  were  north  of 
Mason   and  Dixon's  line  (§  171)  and  nine  tenths  of  the  whole 
population  dwelt  east  of  the  mountains.     The  land  was  untamed, 
—  forests  hardly  touched,  and  minerals  undisturbed.     Even  in 
the   coast  district,  settlement  had  only  spotted  the  primeval 
wilderness ;  and  rough  fishing  hamlets  marked  havens  where 
now  bristle  innumerable  masts  and  smokestacks. 

432.  The  great  bulk  of  the  people  lived  in  little  agricultural 
villages  or  in  the  outlying  cabin  farms.     Less  than  one  twentieth 


KENT 


MOVEMENT  OF  CENTERS  OF  POPULATION  (0)  AND  MANUFACTURES  (+). 
The  Census  Bureau  did  not  determine  the  center  of  manufactures  for  1(J10. 

were  "  urban."  By  the  first  census  (1790),  only  six  towns  had 
six  thousand  people  :  Philadelphia,  42,500  ;  New  York,  32,000  ; 
Boston,  18,000;  Charleston,  16,000;  Baltimore,  14,000;  and 
Providence,  6000.  By  1800  these  figures  had  risen  to  70,000, 
60,000,  24,000,  20,000,  26,000,  and  8000.  The  first  three  cities 
had  begun  to  pave  their  streets  with  cobblestones,  to  light 
them  with  dimly  flaring  lamps,  and  to  bring  in  wholesome 
drinking  water  in  wooden  pipes ;  but  police  systems  and  fire 
protection  hardly  existed,  and  the  complete  absence  of  sewers 
resulted  in  incessant  fevers  and  plagues. 

1  Population  had  more  than  doubled  since  Lexington.    Cf.  §  200. 


1791  Vermont  admitted  as  a  Free  State 

1792  Kentucky  admitted  as  *  Slave  State 
1796  Tennessee  admitted  as  a  Slave  State 
1799  Indiana  Territory  organiie3 


§  434]  ROADS  AND  TRAVEL  359 

433.  The  westward  march  of  our  population  had  barely  begun. 
In  1800  the  "  center  of  population  "  was  eighteen  miles  west  of 
Baltimore.     Ten  years  before,  it  had  been  forty-one  miles  far 
ther  east.     The-half  million  people  west  of  the  mountains  dwelt 
still  in  four  or  five  isolated  groups,  all  included  in  a  broad,  ir 
regular  wedge  of  territory  with  its  apex  reaching  not  quite  to 
the  Mississippi  (map,  facing  p.  269).     The  greater  part  of  our 
own  half  of  the  great  valley  was  yet  unknown  even  to  the 
frontiersman.     In  his  inaugural,  Jefferson,  enthusiast  that  he 
was  regarding  his  country's  future,  asserted  that  we  then  had 
"  room  enough  for  our  descendants  to  the  hundredth  and  even 
thousandth  generation."     Before  his  next  inaugural,  he  was  to 
double  that  territory. 

434.  Communication  remained  much  as  before  the  Revolution. 
The  States  had  little  more  intercourse  with  one  another,  as  yet, 
than  the  colonies  had  enjoyed.     The  lowest  letter  postage  was 
eight  cents  :   from  New  York  to  Boston  it  was  twenty  cents. 
In  1790  there  were  only  75  post  offices  in  the  country  *  —  for 
a   territory  and   population   which   under  modern   conditions 
would  have  some  6000.     A  traveler  could  jolt  by  clumsy  and 
cramped  stagecoach,  at  four  miles  an  hour,  from  Boston  to  New 
York  in  three  days,  and  on  to  Philadelphia  in  two  days  more 
—  longer  than  it  now  takes  to  go  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco. 
Such   travel,   too,  cost  from  three  to  four  times  as  much  as 
modern  travel  by  rail.     South  of  the  Potomac,  traveling  was 
possible  only  on  horseback  —  with  frequent  embarrassments 
from  absence  of  bridges  or  ferries.     Between  1790  and  1800,  a 
few  canals  were  constructed,  and  attention  was  turning  to  the 
possibilities   in   that   means  of  communication.     Freights  by 
land  averaged,  it  is  computed,  ten  cents  a  mile  per  ton,  even  in 
the  settled  areas,  —  or  ten  times  the  rates  our  railroads  charge. 
Merely  to  move  sugar  from  the  coast  to  any  point  300  miles 
inland  cost  more  than  sugar  sells  for  to-day  anywhere  in  the 
country. 

1  This  was  three  times  the  number  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution.    Eng 
land  had  introduced  a  postal  system  into  the  colonies,  but  it  was  very  crude. 


360 


LIFE   IN   1800 


[§435 


435.  Occupations  had  changed  little  since  1775  (§§  203  ff.). 
The  year  after  the  peace  with  England  saw  the  first  American 
voyage  to  China ;  and  shipmasters  began  at  once  to  reach  out 
for  the  attractive  profits  of  that  Oriental  trade.  .  The  European 
wars  were  favoring  our  carrying  trade  with  the  Old  World.  John 
Jacob  Astor  was  organizing  the  great  American  Fur  Company, 
to  follow  the  furs  into  the  far  Northwest.  Manufactures  were 
making  a  little  progress.  A  few  iron  mills  were  at  work ;  and, 
between  1790  and  1812,  some  of  the  machinery  recently  in 
vented  in  England  for  spinning  and  weaving  cotton  was  intro 
duced.  In  England,  by  1800,  such  machinery  had  worked  an 


AN  EARLY  COTTON  GIN.    By  the  courtesy  of  the  Library  of  Congress. 

"  Industrial  Eevolution  "  ; l  but  it  did  not  come  into  use  exten 
sively  here  until  nearly  1830  (528  ff.). 

436.  Eor  America  the  chief  result  of  the  Industrial  Revolu 
tion  at  this  time  was  England1  s  increased  demand  for  raw  cotton 
for  her  new  factories.  Cotton  had  been  costly  because  the  seed 
had  always  had  to  be  separated  from  the  fiber  by  hand.  But 


1  Modern  World,  chs.  xlii-xliv. 


§437] 


WAGES  AND  FRUGALITY 


361 


in  1793  Eli  Whitney,  a  Connecticut  schoolmaster  in  Georgia, 
invented  an  "  engine "  for  this  work.  This  cotton  gin  was 
simple  enough  to  be  run  by  a  slave ;  and  with  it  one  man  could 
"  clean  "  as  much  cotton  as  300  men  could  by  hand.  Southern 
planters  at  once  gave  their  attention  to  meeting  the  new  English 
demand.  In  1791  we  exported  only  200,000  pounds  :  in  1800 
the  amount  was  100  times  that;  and  this  was  doubled  the  third 
year  after.  Soon  the  South  could  boast,  "  Cotton  is  King." 

437.    Farming  tools  and  methods  had  improved  little  in  four 
thousand  years.      The  American  farmer  with  strenuous   toil 


FARM  TOOLS.    The  wagon  is  the  only  machinery  not  here  included. 

scratched  the  soil  with  a  clumsy  wooden  homemade  bull  plow. 
He  had  no  other  machines  for  horses  to  draw,  except  a  rude 
harrow  and  a  cart.  He  sowed  his  grain  by  hand,  cut  it  with 
the  sickle  of  primitive  times,  and  thrashed  it  out  on  the  barn 
floor  with  the  flail  —  older  than  history  —  if  he  did  not 
tread  it  out  by  cattle,  as  the  ancient  Egyptians  did.  The  first 
threshing  machine  had  been  invented  in  1785,  but  it  had  not 
yet  come  into  use.  The  cradle-scythe  —  a  hand  tool,  but  a  vast 
improvement  over  the  old  sickle  —  was  patented  in  1803.  The 
first  improvements  on  the  plow  date  from  experiments  on 


362  LIFE   IN   1800  [§  438 

different  shapes  of  mold  boards  by  Thomas  Jefferson.  Soon 
after  1800  appeared  the  cast-iron  wheeled  plow.  This  was  soon 
to  work  a  revolution — permitting  deeper  and  more  rapid  tillage ; 
but  for  some  years  farmers  refused  to  use  it,  asserting  that  the 
iron  "  poisoned  "  the  ground.  Drills,  seeders,  mowers,  reapers, 
binders,  were  still  in  the  future. 

438.  In  the  cities  a  small  class  of  merchants  imitated  in  a 
quiet  way  the  luxury  of  the  corresponding  class  in  England,  — 
with  spacious  homes,  silver-laden  tables,  and,  on  occasion, 
crimson-velvet  attire.  The  great  planters  of  the  South,  too, 
lived  in  open-handed  wastefulness,  though  with  little  real 
comfort.  Otherwise  American  society  was  simple  and  frugal, — 
with  a  standard  of  living  far  below  that  of  to-day.  Necessities 
of  life  cost  more  (so  far  as  they  were  not  produced  in  the  home), 
and  wages  were  lower.  Hodcarrier  and  skilled  mason  received 
about  half  the  wage  ( in  purchasing  value )  paid  for  corresponding 
labor  to-day,  and  for  a  labor  day  lasting  from  sunrise  to  sunset.1 
The  unskilled  laborers  who  toiled  on  the  public  buildings  and 
streets  of  Washington  from  1793  to  1800  received  seventy 
dollars  a  year  "  and  found  "  —  which  did  not  include  clothing. 
And  the  income  of  the  professional  classes  was  insignificant  by 
later  standards. 

Says  Henry  Adams  (I,  21)  :  "  Many  a  country  clergyman,  eminent  for 
piety  and  even  for  hospitality,  brought  up  a  family  and  laid  aside  some 
savings  on  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars  a  year.  President  Dwight  [of 
Yale]  .  .  .  eulogizing  the  life  of  Abijah  Weld,  pastor  of  Attleborough, 
declared  that  on  a  salary  of  $  250  Mr.  Weld  brought  up  eleven  children, 
besides  keeping  a  hospitable  house  and  maintaining  charity  to  the  poor." 
Such  ministers  usually  eked  out  their  salaries  by  tilling  small  farms  with 
their  own  hands. 

The  homes  of  farmers  and  mechanics  found  clean  sand  a  sub 
stitute  for  carpets,  and  pewter  or  wooden  dishes  sufficient  for 
tableware.  There  was  no  linen  on  the  table  ;  nor  prints  on  the 

1  These  wages  were  fifty  per  cent  better  than  before  the  Revolution,  —  so  that 
John  Jay,  high-minded  gentleman  that  he  was,  complains  bitterly  about  the 
"exorbitant"  wages  demanded  by  artisans,  much  as  John  Winthrop  did  in 
1632. 


§  439]  FOOD   AND  CLOTHING  363 

walls ;  nor  many  books,  nor  any  periodicals,  to  be  seen  (un 
less  perhaps  a  small  weekly  paper).  No  woman  had  ever 
cooked  by  a  stove.  Household  lights  were  dim,  ill-smelling 
candles,  molded  in  the  home,  or  smoky  wicks  in  whale-oil  lamps. 
If  a  householder  let  his  fire  "  go  out,"  he  borrowed  live  coals 
from  a  neighbor  or  struck  sparks  into  tinder  with  flint  and  steel. 
If  man  or  child  had  to  have  an  arm  amputated,  or  broken  bones 
set,  the  pain  had  to  be  borne  without  the  merciful  aid  of 
anaesthetics. 

The  village  shop  made  and  sold  shoes  and  hats.  All  the 
other  clothing  of  the  ordinary  family  was  homemade,  and  from 
homespun  cloth.  The  awkward  shapes  of  coat  and  trousers 
that  resulted  from  such  tailoring  long  remained  marked  features 
in  Yankee  caricature.  And  says  Professor  McMaster,  — 

"  Many  a  well-to-do  father  of  a  family  of  to-day  expends  each  year  on 
coats  and  frocks  and  finery  a  sum  sufficient  a  hundred  years  ago  to  have 
defrayed  the  public  expenses  of  a  flourishing  village,  —  schoolmaster,  con 
stable,  and  highways  included.'' 

Farmer,  mechanic,  and  "  storekeeper  "  all  had  plain  food  in 
abundance,  but  in  little  variety.  Breakfast,  "dinner,"  and 
"  supper  "  saw  much  the  same  combinations  of  salt  pork,  salt 
fish,  potatoes  and  turnips,  rye  bread,  and  dried  apples,  with 
fresh  meat  for  the  town  mechanic  perhaps  once  a  week.  Among 
vegetables  not  yet  known  were  cauliflower,  sweet  corn,  lettuce, 
cantaloupes,  rhubarb,  and  tomatoes ;  while  tropical  fruits,  like 
oranges  and  bananas,  were  the  rare  luxuries  of  the  rich.  Even 
the  rich  could  not  have  ice  in  summer. 

In  all  externals,  life  was  to  change  more  in  the  next  hundred 
years  than  it  had  changed  in  the  past  thousand. 

439.  Political  standards  were  low,  as  we  have  seen.  Says 
Professor  McMaster  (With  the  Fathers,  71):  —  "In  all  the 
frauds  and  tricks  that  go  to  make  up  the  worst  form  of 
'  practical  politics '  —  the  men  who  founded  our  State  and 
National  governments  were  always  our  equals  and  often  our 
masters." 


364  LIFE   IN   1800  [§  440 

To  be  sure  there  was  less  bribery  than  in  more  recent  times. 
The  great  corporations,  —  railways,  municipal  lighting  com 
panies,  and  so  on,  —  which,  in  their  contest  for  special  privi 
leges,  were  to  become  the  chief  source  of  corrupting  later 
legislatures  and  city  councils,  had  not  yet  appeared.  Public 
servants  had  infinitely  less  temptation  to  betray  their  trust  for 
private  gain  than  now  ;  but  public  opinion  as  to  the  crime  was  far 
less  sensitive  than  to-day. 

440.  For  private  life,  drunkenness  was  the  American  vice  — 
with  victims  in  all  classes  and  in  almost  every  family.     The 
diet   (§  438)    created   a  universal   craving   for   strong   drink. 
Foreigners  complained,  too,  of  a  lack  of  cleanliness,  and  were 
shocked  by  the  brutal  fights  at  public  gatherings,  with  biting 
off  of  ears  and  gouging  out  of  eyes  as  commonplace  accom 
paniments.      Likewise,  they  found  American  society   coarse 
and   immodest    in    conversation   (like    English    society   two 
generations  earlier),  but  not  immoral  in  conduct. 

As  everywhere  else  in  the  world,  barbarous  legal  punish 
ments  and  loathsome  jail  life  still  nourished.  The  insane  were 
caged,  like  wild  beasts,  in  dungeons  underneath  the  ordinary 
prisons ;  and  debt  brought  more  men  to  prison  than  any  crime. 

441.  America  was  justly  famous  for  its  political  writings  in 
connection  with  the  Revolution'  and  the  Constitution.     Other 
wise,  after  the  death  of  Franklin,  the  country  had  had  no  man 
of  letters;    and    it   had   little  desire   for   literature.      Painting 
reached  a  high  point  with  Copley,  Stuart,  and  Benjamin  West ; 
but  these  American  artists  could  not  earn  a  mechanic's  living 
at  home,  and  were  forced  to  seek  patronage  in  England.     New 
England  had  developed  her  remarkable  system  of  private  en 
dowed  academies,  for  a  few  bright  and  energetic  boys,  as  fitting 
schools  for  college  ;  but  the  Boston  Latin  School  was  almost 
the  only  survivor  of  the  Puritan  attempt  at  public  "  grammar 
schools."     Several  more  colleges  had  been  organized  toward 
1800  (cf;  §  198)  ;   but  the  instruction  was  barren,  and  attend 
ance  was   meager.     Harvard  had  a  faculty   of  a  president, 
three    professors,  and  four   tutors.      The   elementary  schools, 


442] 


SIMPLE   AND  RUDE 


365 


even  in  New  England,  had  decayed,  commonly,  into  a  two- 
months'  badly  taught  term  in  winter,  for  boys,  and  a  like  term, 
worse  taught,  in  summer,  for  girls. 

In  the  South,  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  trying, 
rather  feebly,  to  redeem  the  pledges  of  their  democratic  con 
stitutions  (§270).  North  Carolina  had  established  fourteen 
academies,  supported  by  land  grants  and  State  lotteries;  and 
Georgia  set'aside  large  amounts  of  wild  land  and  of  confiscated 
Loyalist  property  to  support  schools  and  academies.  That 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  ABOUT  1770.    From  an  engraving  by  Paul  Revere. 

State  also  planned  a  noble  "university"  —which  was  .to  com 
prise  all  the  public  schools  of  all  grades.  Distinct  instruction 
in  law  and  medicine  was  beginning  in  two  or  three  of  the 
larger  colleges  ;  but,  for  many  years  to  come,  most  young  men 
who  wished  to  become  lawyers  or  doctors,  prepared  themselves 
mainly  by  studying  in  the  office  of  an  older  practitioner. 
Most  colleges  offered  training  in  theology. 

442.  Three  hopeful  conditions  in  American  life  in  1800,  not 
yet  touched  upon,  explain  in  large  measure  the  wonderful 
progress  of  our  people  in  the  century  that  followed.  These 
were  the  abundance  of  free  land,  the  intellectual  activity  among 


366  LIFE   IN   1800  [§  442 

even  the  agricultural  classes;  and  the  peculiar  American  talent 
for  mechanical  invention. 

a.  Free  land,  to  be  had  for  the  taking,  had  been  from  the 
beginning  the  basis  of  American  democracy.  In  colonial  times 
it  had  protected  the  artisan  against  attempts  by  the  aristo 
cratic  classes  to  keep  down  his  wages  bylaw — since  he  could 
lay  aside  his  trade  for  a  farm.  So,  too,  in  1800,  free  land 
for  some  meant  better  wages  and. industrial  freedom  for  all 
the  working  classes.  True,  wages  and  the  standard  of  living 
were  still  low  (§  438);  but  this  was  because  no  great  amount 
of  wealth  had  been  accumulated.  Such  wealth  and  comfort 
as  existed  was  distributed  less  unequally  than  now. 

For  the  farming  class  itself,  too,  free  land  meant  that  only 
the  best  soils  had  to  be  used,  and  that,  even  on  them,  there 
was  no  such  demand  for  costly  fertilizing  as  in  the  Old  World. 
Agriculture,  the  main  American  industry,  was  amazingly  pro 
ductive,  even  with  the  primitive  methods  of  that  day. 

This  free  land,  however,  was  already  becoming  harder  to  get. 
At  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  Virginia  and  other  States  with 
large  unsettled  territory  paid  their  soldiers  largely  in  military 
"  land  warrants."  Each  such  warrant  authorized  the  holder  to 
locate  and  get  title  to  a  certain  amount  of  any  wild  public  land 
that  suited  him.  But  such  lands  were  mainly  at  some  distance 
from  the  settlements,  and  multitudes  of  soldiers  sold  their  land 
warrants  —  often  for  a  song  —  to  large  speculators,  who  then 
secured  vast  tracts  in  the  most  desirable  districts.  As  early  as 
1784,  Washington  declared  that  such  "  forestallers  "  had  left 
hardly  a  valuable  spot  in  Virginia's  lands  within  reach  of  the 
Ohio.  He  had  reason  to  know,  —  for  he  was  just  back  from  the 
West  where  he  himself  had  located  enormous  holdings,  partly 
on  military  warrants  purchased  from  soldiers.  (Cf.  §  334.) 

6.  The  second  consideration  was  even  more  important.  In 
every  Old-World  land  the  men  who  tilled  the  soil  were  a 
peasantry  —  slow,  stolid,  unenterprising,  wholly  distinct  from 
the  rest  of  society.  Here,  in  1800,  the  men  who  tilled  the  soil 
—  to  quote  Francis  A.  Walker's  passage  :  — 


§442] 


THE   LAND   OF  PROMISE 


367 


"  were  the  same  kind  of  men  precisely  as  those  who  filled  the  professions 
or  were  engaged  in  commercial  or  mechanical  pursuits.  Of  two  sons  of 
the  same  mother,  one  [the  weakling  of  the  family  perhaps,  and  so  thought 
unfit  for  a  farmer]  became  a  lawyer,  perhaps  a  judge,  or  went  down  to 
the  city  and  became  a  merchant,  or  gave  himself  to  political  affairs  and 
became  a  governor  or  a  member  of  Congress.  The  other  stayed  upon  the 
ancestral  homestead,  or  made  a  new  one  for  himself  and  his  children  out 
of  the  public  domain,  remaining  all  his  life  a  plain  hardworking  farmer 
[the  children  of  the  two 
families  mingling  with 
out  suspicion  of  social 
or  intellectual  distinc 
tion].  .  .  .  There  was 
then  no  other  country 
in  the  world,  .  .  .  where 
equal  mental  activity 
and  alertness  [were'] 
applied  to  the  soil  as  to 
trade  and  industry." 

c.  Of  mechanical 
insight  and  inven 
tion,  to  quote  Gen 
eral  Walker  again, 
— "  There  is  only 
one  nation  in  the 
world  to  the  mass 
of  whose  population 
this  form  of  genius  can  be  attributed.  That  nation  is  our  own. 
There  are  few  Americans  of  American  stock,  at  least  through 
out  the  Northern  States,  who  have  not  mechanical  aptitude  in 
a  measure  which  elsewhere  would  make  them  marked  men. 
'  The  American  invents  as  the  Greek  chiselled,  as  the  Venetian 
painted,  as  the  modern  Italian  sings.' " 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Henry  Adams'  History  of  the  United  States 
during  the  First  Administration  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  I,  1-74.  The  next 
hundred  pages  of  the  same  is  advisable  also.  This  is  the  best  reference 
on  American  conditions  in  1800.  Francis  A.  Walker's  Making  of  a 
Nation  (66-72)  treats  the  matter  of  the  last  section  more  satisfactorily 


A  COLONIAL  SPINNING  WHEEL,  now  preserved 
in  Daniel  Webster's  old  home  in  Marshfield, 
Massachusetts.  In  Webster's  boyhood,  his 
mother,  in  the  farm  home,  spun  the  wool  for 
his  clothing  on  this  wheel  or  on  one  like  it. 


368  LIFE   IN   1800  [§  442 

than  any  other  publication  :  every  student  should  read  the  seven  pages 
in  full.  On  geographical  conditions,  valuable  readings  may  be  found  in 
any  one  of  the  following:  Farrand's  Basis  of  American  History,  chs.  1-4  ; 
Shaler's  The  United  States,  I,  chs.  1-3  and  7-9 ;  Shaler's  chapters  in 
Winsor's  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  IV;  Gannett's 
Building  of  a  Nation. 


CHAPTER   XL 

"THE   REVOLUTION  OF   1800" 

As  real  a  revolution  in  the  principles  of  our  government,  as  that  of  1776 
was  in  its  form.  —  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

A  Republic,  you  tell  me,  is  a  government  in  which  the  People  have  an 
essential  share  in  the  Sovereignty.  Is  not  the  whole  Sovereignty,  my 
friend,  essentially  in  the  People? — SAMUEL  ADAMS,  in  a  letter  to  John 
Adams  in  1790. 

443.  From  1801  to  1809,  American  history  is  sometimes  called 
"the  biography  of  Thomas  Jefferson."  The  nation  believed  in 
him;  Congress  swayed  to  his  wish;  his  great  Secretaries 
(Madison  for  State  affairs,  and  Gallatin 1  for  the  Treasury)  ad 
mired  and  followed  him. 

Jefferson  was  six  feet,  two  and  a  half  inches  tall.  His  frame 
was  vigorous  but  loose-jointed.  His  hair  was  sandy;  and  his 
face  irregular,  freckled,  and  sunny.  He  was  an  athletic  and 
reckless  horseman,  an  enthusiastic  farmer,  and  the  valued  corre 
spondent  of  the  most  famous  scholars  of  Europe.  The  accounts 
of  contemporaries  show  him,  sitting  on  one  hip  with  neglected 
dress  and  slippers  down-at-the-heel,  chatting  with  rambling 
charm;  or,  with  methodical  industry,  recording  minutest 
weather  details ;  or  drawing  up  neat  tables  to  show,  through  a 
period  of  several  years,  the  dates  for  the  appearance  of  thirty- 
seven  vegetables  in  the  Washington  markets ;  or  reporting  ju 
dicial  decisions ; 2  or  devising  rules  for  parliamentary  pro- 

1  Gallatin  was  a  Swiss  emigrant,  and,  for  some  years  past,  a  leader  of  the 
radical  Republican  party  in  Pennsylvania.    He  had  been  identified  with  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  movement  that  resulted  in  the  Whisky  Rebellion.    He  had 
keenly  criticized  Hamilton's  financial  policy ;  and,  next  to  Hamilton,  he  proved 
perhaps  our  greatest  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

2  Among  the  first  judicial  "  Reports." 


370  "REVOLUTION   OF   1800"  [§444 

eedure  ; 1  or  directing,  with  gentle  suggestion,  the  politics  of  a 
distant  State ;  or  discussing  with  a  French  scientist  the  latest 
discovery  in  that  celebrity's  special  field;  or  inditing  some 
other  form  of  that  voluminous  correspondence  which  well  earns 
him  the  title  "  the  greatest  American  letter-writer." 

444.  In  1800  Jefferson  had  already  had  a  distinguished  career. 
He  entered  the  Virginia  Assembly  in  the  memorable  session  of 
1769  (§  239).  Four  years  later  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  in 
that  body  in  organizing  the  first  Intercolonial  Committee  of 
Correspondence  (§  244).  In  1775  he  became  a  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress.  A  year  later  he  was  again  in  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  to  lead  a  social  revolution  in  that  State,  by 
legislation,  amid  all  the  turmoil  of  war.  Under  his  guidance, 
the  reform  party,  in  1777-1778,  (1)  prohibited  further  importa 
tion  of  slaves  into  the  State ;  (2)  swept  away  the  church  es 
tablishment,  along  with  every  vestige  of  ancient  checks  upon 
religious  freedom ;  (3)  overthrew  entail  and  primogeniture 2  — 
the  semifeudal  bulwarks  of  the  landed  aristocracy ;  and  (4)  re 
placed  the  complex  barbarities  of  the  old  legal  system  (§  192) 
by  a  new  code  simple,  compact,  and  humane. 

Jefferson's  views  had  been  even  more  far-reaching  than  the  actual  ac 
complishment.  He  had  hoped  for  gradual  emancipation  of  slaves  and  for 
a  noble  system  of  public  schools.  The  latter  scheme  he  returned  to  en 
thusiastically,  but  with  little  result,  in  his  old  age ;  and  he  did  at  last 
carry  out  his  plans  for  reorganizing  the  University  of  Virginia  —  on  the 
main  lines  along  which  the  State  universities  were  afterwards  to  develop. 

1  The  first  volume  of  its  kind,  and  long  the  only  one. 

2  Cf.  §  204  and  note,  and  §  313,  note.    The  aristocratic  opposition  was  par 
ticularly  bitter  here.    The  leaders  pleaded  for  at  least  a  double  inheritance  for 
the  oldest  son.    Not  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  oldest  son  needs  twice  as 
much  to  feed  and  clothe  him,  replied  Jefferson.     Soon  after,  Jefferson's  only 
son,  a  babe,  died  from  exposure  in  a  mid-winter  flight  from  a  Tory  raid ;   and 
the  aristocratic  planters  were  not  ashamed  to  call  this  calamity  a  "  righteous 
judgment  of  God,"  destroying  the  family  of  the  man  who  had  wished  to  destroy 
all  families.    In  this  legislative  struggle,  Jefferson  was  supported  by  the  solid 
backing  of  the  western  Scotch-Irish  counties  (§2316).    His  victory  Ameri 
canized  Virginia  and  consolidated  there  the  Democratic  party  he  was  after 
ward  to  organize  for  the  nation  at  large. 


§  445]  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  371 

For  the  next  two  years  (1779-1780)  Jefferson  served  as 
governor  of  Virginia.  Then  after  brief  retirement,  due  to  private 
griefs,  he  reappeared  in  the  Continental  Congress  in  1783,  for 
brief  but  distinguished  service  (§§  312,  314).  Next  we  see  him 
American  Minister  in  France.  He  watched  the  early  stages  of 
the  French  Revolution  with  eager  sympathy,  and  while  pre 
serving  in  public  the  impartial  attitude  proper  for  a  foreign 
minister,  he  was  in  private  the  valued  adviser  of  Lafayette  and 
other  reformers,  whose  inexperienced  enthusiasm  he  was  some 
times  able  to  direct  wisely. 

French  thought  now  secured  a  strong  influence  upon  him ; 
but  his  admiration  for  that  country  in  no  way  weakened  his 
patriotism.  He  urged  Monroe  to  come  to  Europe,  "  because  it 
will  make  you  adore  your  own  country,  its  soil,  climate,  equality, 
liberty,  laws,  people,  manners  "  ;  and  he  predicted  that,  while 
many  Europeans  would  remove  to  America,  no  man  then  living 
would  see  an  American  seek  a  home  in  Europe.  In  1790  he 
returned  to  America  to  take  a  place  in  Washington's  Cabinet, 
and  then  to  build  skillfully  the  party  of  the  people,  which  tri 
umphed  in  his  election  to  the  presidency. 

445.  The  two  things  that  men  remember  against  this  broad 
background  of  varied  activity  are :  (1)  that  Jefferson  gave  im 
mortal  form  to  the  principles  of  our  political  Revolution  of  1776, 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  (2)  that  he  stood  for 
the  democratic  aspirations  of  the  social  "  revolution  of  1800." 
The  modest  shaft  that  marks  his  resting  place  bears  only  the 
words  (selected  by  himself),  "Author  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  of  the  statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  freedom, 
and  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia."  With  true  insight, 
Jefferson  represented  in  that  epitaph  his  work  in  three  related 
fields,  —  political  liberty,  religious  liberty,  and  higher  popular 
education.  History  adds  the  proud  dictum  of  one  of  his  biog 
raphers  :  "  If  America  is  right,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  right. " 

It  is  characteristic  that,  at  the  close  of  his  brief  Autobiography,  in 
counting  up  his  services  to  his  fellows,  Jefferson  gives  prominent  place 
to  his  efforts  in  making  navigable  a  Virginia  creek  and  to  his  introducing 


372  "  REVOLUTION  OF   1800  "  [§  44(i 

into  South  Carolina  a  heavier  and  better  rice  than  was  before  grown  in 
America.  "  The  greatest  service  which  can  be  rendered  to  any  country," 
he  comments,  "  is  to  add  a  useful  plant  to  its  cultivation.  " 

446.  Jefferson's  political  principles,  for  domestic  concerns,  were 
(1)  trust  in  the  people ;  (2)  restriction  of  all  government,1  es 
pecially  of  the  Central  government ;  (3)  frugality ;  (4)  sim 
plicity  ;  and  (5)  "  encouragement  of  agriculture,  and  of  com 
merce  as  her  handmaid/7  rather  than  of  manufactures. 

As  to  foreign  affairs  he  hoped  to  begin  a  golden  age  of  peace. 
War  was  a  blunder.  Army  and  navy  we  could  dispense  with. 
At  most,  we  could  need  only  "  commercial  coercion  "  to  secure 
our  rights  from  other  nations  :  "  Our  commerce  is  so  valuable 
to  them,"  he  argued,  "that  they  will  be  glad  to  purchase  it 
when  the  only  price  we  ask  is  that  they  do  us  justice.  " 

These  principles  are  summed  up  admirably  in  Jefferson's 
first  inaugural.  "  Absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the 
majority  is  the  vital  principle  of  republics.  "  The  best  govern 
ment  is  one  that  "  while  it  restrains  men  from  injuring  one 
another,  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regulate  their  own 
pursuits,  and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of  labor  the  bread 
it  has  earned. "  He  declares  his  purpose  to  secure  "  equal  and 
exact  justice  to  all  men  "  ;  and  to  defend  "  freedom  of  religion, 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  freedom  of  the  person." 

Years  later,  when  rude  experience  had  shattered  his  noble  dream  of 
universal  peace,  Jefferson  turned  to  a  vision  of  a  New-  World  peace,  with 
the  United  States  as  the  protecting  elder  brother  of  American  nations. 
He  hopes  for  u  fraternization  among  all  American  nations,"  and  dwells  up 
on  the  importance  of  their  ' '  coalescing  in  an  American  policy  totally  inde 
pendent  of  that  of  Europe,"  adding,  '*  When  our  strength  will  permit  us 
to  give  the  law  to  our  hemisphere,  it  should  be  that  the  meridian  of  the 
mid-Atlantic  should  be  the  line  of  demarcation  between  peace  and  war,  — 

1  Government  in  that  day  was  almost  wholly  oppressive,  —  or  beneficent  to  a 
privileged  class  only,  at  the  expense  of  other  classes.  It  did  not  yet  dream  of 
providing  schools,  libraries,  hospitals,  asylums,  weather  bureaus,  or  the  man 
ifold  other  activities  of  general  helpfulness  now  belonging  to  it.  In  the  closing 
years  of  his  administration,  Jefferson  became  one  of  the  early  advocates  of  this 
wider  helpfulness  (§  453). 


§  447]  JEFFERSON'S  PRINCIPLES  373 

on  this  side  of  which  no  act  of  hostility  should  be  permitted. "  And  again, 
"  The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we  [the  United  States]  may  formally 
require  a  median  of  partition  through  the  ocean,  on  the  hither  side  of 
which  no  European  gun  shall  ever  be  fired,  nor  an  American  on  the  other, 
and  when,  during  the  rage  of  eternal  war  in  Europe,  the  lion  and  the  lamb 
within  our  regions  shall  lie  down  in  peace."  l 

447.   The  election  of  Jefferson  marked  a  true  peaceful  revolution. 

The  nation  had  resumed  its  progress  toward  democracy,  after 
the  years  of  interruption  due  to  the  conservative  crusade  for  a 
strong  government.  Jefferson  urged  a  friend  to  accept  a  place 
in  the  Cabinet  so  that  he  might  be  of  service  "in  the  new 
establishment  of  Republicanism  .  .  .  hitherto  we  have  seen  only 
its  travestie."  TJie  change,  however,  was  rather  in  the  spirit  of 
the  administration  than  in  its  governmental  acts. 

Jeffersonian  simplicity  has  become  a  byword.  At  each  previous 
inauguration,  the  President  had  been  driven  in  state,  in  coach 
and  six,  to  the  ceremony.  Jefferson  walked  quietly  from  his 
boarding  house  to  the  Capitol  to  take  the  oath  of  office. 
Washington  had  "  opened "  Congress  in  person  by  a  speech 
that  kept  many  hints  of  a  resemblance  to  the  English  "  speech 
from  the  throne  " ;  and  Congress  had  replied  by  drawing  up 
an  "  address  of  thanks,"  and  then  driving  in  formal  procession 
to  the  President's  residence  and  standing  bareheaded  in  his 
presence  while  it  was  read.  Adams  had  jealously  guarded  all 
these  trappings.  But  from  the  first,  Jefferson  set  the  example 
that  all  communication  with  Congress,  even  the  opening  mes 
sages,  should  be  by  writing.2  In  matters  of  hospitality  at  the 
White  House,  too,  he  discarded  the  elaborate  and  courtly 
ceremonial  of  Washington  and  Adams. 

Not  much  legal  reform  was  found  necessary.  The  vicious 
Alien  and  Sedition  Acts  had  been  enacted  for  only  two  years, 
and  had  expired.  The  fourteen-year  Naturalization  law  of 
1797  was  repealed,  along  with  all  internal  revenue  taxes 

1  Works,  Washington  ed.,  VI,  33,  54,  268;  VII,  168-169,  315-317. 

2  In  1913  Woodrow  Wilson  restored  the  personal  speech  to  Congress  without 
the  original  aristocratic  trappings. 


374  "REVOLUTION   OF   1800"  [§448 

(whisky  tax  and  stamp  duties),  and  with  the  Judiciary  Act  of 
1801.1  In  the  past  the  administration  had  had  the  employment 
of  whatever  funds  Congress  raised.  Now  Jefferson  and  Gal- 
latin  limited  their  own  tremendous  power  in  this  matter,  by 
calling  upon  Congress  to  make  specific  appropriations  only. 
This  precedent  has  been  followed  ever  since. 

The  debt  had  never  been  decreased  by  the  Federalists  ;  and 
the  war  flurry  of  1798  had  raised  it,  through  new  loans,  to 
$83,000,000,  with  an  interest  charge  each  year  of  $3,500,000. 
During  the  last  years  of  Federalist  rule,  moreover,  ordinary 
expenditure  had  outrun  ordinary  income.  One  of  Jefferson's 
dearest  hopes  was  to  abolish  the  national  debt,  and  he  and 
Gallatin  planned  to  get  rid  of  half  of  it  in  eight  years.  The 
$6,000,000  formerly  spent  on  army  and  navy  was  cut  to 
$1,000,000  (the  army  being  decreased  to  3000  men  and  most  of 
the  war  vessels  being  docked),  and  every  saving  possible  in 
any  other  department  was  rigidly  enforced.  In  1803  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  added  $15,000,000  to  the  debt,  and  war 
with  the  Barbary  Pirates  compelled  more  military  expense. 
The  giving  up  of  internal  taxes,  too,  had  greatly  reduced  the 
revenue.  Still  Jefferson's  promises  were  well  kept :  at  the  end 
of  his  eight  years,  the  debt  had  been  cut  down  to  $57,000,000, 
with  an  interest  charge  of  only  $2,000,000  a  year. 

448.  Jefferson's  most  annoying  problems  had  to  do  with  the 
Civil  Service.2  The  Federalist  Presidents  had  excluded  Re 
publicans  from  all  office.  They  had  not  had  to  dismiss 
any :  none  got  in.  This  policy,  too,  had  been  emphatically 
avowed. 


1  The  Federalists  charged  that  this  repeal  was  unconstitutional,  and  that 
the  Republicans  had  dragged  the  judiciary  into  politics !     Congress  is  forbidden 
by  the  Constitution  to  decrease  the  salary  of  a  judge,  or  to  dismiss  him  from 
office.    Can  it,  then,  take  salary  and  office  from  the  judge  by  abolishing  the 
court?    To  prevent  the  Supreme  Court  from  interfering  with  the  repeal, 
another  law  adjourned  the  sittings  of  that  body  for  some  months. 

2  This  term  is  applied  to  the  active  body  of  public  servants  outside  the  army 
and  navy,  and  not  including  judges,  legislators,  and  heads  of  executive  de 
partments, 


§  448]  THE   CIVIL  SERVICE  375 

Washington  wrote  to  Pickering,  his  Secretary  of  War  in  his  second 
administration:  "I  shall  not,  while  I  have  the  honor  of  administering 
the  government,  bring  a  man  into  any  office  of  consequence,  knowingly, 
whose  political  tenets  are  adverse  to  the  measures  the  general  govern 
ment  are  pursuing ;  for  this,  in  my  opinion,  would  be  a  sort  of  political 
suicide. ' '  And  Senator  Bayard,  as  mouthpiece  for  Adams,  declared,  * '  The 
politics  of  the  office-seeker  will  be  the  great  object  of  the  President's  at 
tention,  and  an  invincible  objection  if  different  from  his  own." 

Washington  and  Adams  did  not  use  office  to  pay  for  party  services : 
they  did  use  it  to  strengthen  the  "right  party  "  (their  party)  and  so 
"save  the  country."  This  attitude  was  morally  very  far  from  the  later 
spoils  system  of  Jackson's  day,  but  it  was  practically  sure  to  glide  into  that 
system. 

Now  had  come  the  first  change  of  party.  If  Jefferson  fol 
lowed  Washington's  policy  to  its  logical  conclusion,  he  would 
dismiss  all  office  holders,  to  make  room  for  Republicans.  His 
opponents  feared,  and  many  supporters  hoped,  that  he  would 
do  so.  Jefferson  removed  only  about  twenty  officials  for  po 
litical  reasons, — these  mainly  Federal  marshals  and  attorneys  ; 2 
and  in  spite  of  all  changes  from  various  causes,  more  than  half 
of  the  officials  of  March  4)  1801,  were  still  holding  office  four  years 
later. 

Moreover,  Jefferson  and  Gallatin  were  the  first  statesmen  in 
the  world  to  think  out  the  principles  upon  which  alone  a  non- 
partisan  civil  service  can  be  permanently  maintained.  They 
saw  and  said  that  each  officeholder  ought  to  be  at  liberty  to 
think  and  vote  as  his  conscience  led,  but  that,  to  preserve  this 
freedom,  he  must  refrain  from  " electioneering  activity"  or,  in 
modern  phrase,  from  "  offensive  partisanship" 

Gallatin  prepared  a  circular  to  warn  subordinates  in  his  de 
partment  that  "  while  freedom  of  opinion  and  freedom  of  suf 
frage  are  imprescriptible  rights,  tbfe  President  would  regard  any 
exercise  of  official  influence  to  control  the  same  rights  in  others 

1  From  the  very  first,  Jefferson  stated  his  intention  to  change  some  of  these 
officers,  as  the  only  means  left  him  to  partly  correct  the  Federalist  monopoly 
of  the  courts.  The  courts  themselves  he  could  not  change,  but  he  could  keep 
open  these  "doorways." 


376  "  REVOLUTION   OF   1800  "  [§  449 

as  destructive  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  Republican 
constitution."  Gallatin  makes  clear  that  this  was  to  apply 
to  official  activity  for  the  administration  as  well  as  against  it. 
Jefferson's  views  are  set  forth  in  his  correspondence  :  — 

"Mr.  Adams'  last  appointments,  when  he  knew  he  was  naming  counsellors 
and  aids  for  me  and  not  for  himself,  I  set  aside  as  far  as  depends  on  me, 
and  will  not  deliver  commissions  where  still  in  executive  hands.  Officers 
who  have  been  guilty  of  gross  abuses  of  office,  such  as  marshals  packing 
juries,  etc.  [to  secure  conviction  under  prosecution  for  "sedition"],  I 
shall  now  remove,  as  my  predecessor  should  have  done.  .  .  .  The  right 
of  opinion  shall  suffer  no  invasion  from  me"  (Letter  to  Gerry,  March  29, 
1801).  He  then  thought  that  "  of  the  thousands  of  officers  in  the  United 
States,  a  very  few  individuals  only,  probably  not  twenty,  will  be  removed  " 
(Letter  to  Rush,  March  24).  Later  he  adds  "  industrious  partisanship  " 
as  a  proper  cause  for  removal ;  and  July  21,  in  reply  to  Federalist  critics, 
he  asks  whether  the  minority  expect  to  continue  to  monopolize  the  offices 
from  which,  when  in  power,  they  excluded  all  their  opponents,  and  queries 
how  a  "  due  participation  "  for  the  majority  is  to  be  obtained,  since  vacan 
cies  "by  death  are  few,  by  resignation,  none."  About  a  year  later  he 
admits  that  his  program  has  not  been  followed  "  with  the  undeviating  reso 
lution  I  could  have  wished"  (Letter  to  Lincoln,  Oct.  25,  1802). 

449.  Even  after  the  repeal  of  the  Judiciary  Act  of  1801,  the 
Federalists  remained  in  complete  possession  of  the  courts.  And 

the  courts  showed  a  bitter  and  shameful  partisanship.  Chief 
Justice  Dana  of  Massachusetts,  in  1798,  during  a  political  cam 
paign,  in  a  charge  to  a  grand  jury,  attacked  the  Republican  party 
(including  Jefferson  especially)  as  "  apostles  of  atheism,  an 
archy,  bloodshed,  and  plunder."  His  charge  was  toasted  at  a 
Boston  banquet,  as  dictated  by  "intelligence,  integrity,  and 
patriotism."  Even  Washington  so  approved  it  that  he  sent 
copies  to  his  friends. 

Justice  Chase  of  the  Supreme  Court  had  given  even  greater 
cause  of  offense.  In  1803,  in  a  charge  to  a  Maryland  grand 
jury,  he  had  declared  that  the  Eepublican  attempt  in  Mary 
land  to  establish  manhood  suffrage,  "will,  in  my  judgment, 
take  away  all  security  for  property  and  personal  liberty  [in 
that  State] .  .  .  The  modern  doctrines  .  .  .  that  all  men  .  .  . 


§  450J  AND  FEDERALIST   COURTS  377 

are  entitled  to  equal  liberty  and  equal  rights  have  brought  this 
mighty  mischief  upon  us."  Chase  had  presided  also  at  two 
"  sedition  "  trials,  and  had  manifested  there  a  partisan  and  brow 
beating  disposition.  Twice  his  violence  drove  from  the  court 
the  most  eminent  lawyers  of  the  circuit ;  and  during  the  politi 
cal  campaign  of  1800,  he  had  broken  up  the  sessions  in  order 
to  make  Federalist  speeches. 

450.  Jefferson  felt  keenly  the  need  of  correcting  this  partisan 
character  of  this  appointive  branch  of  the  government.  In 
December,  1801,  he  wrote  :  — 

"They  [the  Federalists]  have  retired  into  the  Judiciary  as  a  strong 
hold.  There  the  remains  of  Federalism  are  to  be  preserved  and  fed  from 
the  treasury  ;  and  from  that  battery  all  the  works  of  Republicanism  are 
to  be  beaten  down  and  destroyed." 

The  principles  of  the  Republicans  with  regard  to  the  govern 
ment  forbade  them  to  enlarge  the  courts,  and  so  get  control. 
And  in  any  case  they  could  not  very  well  have  done  that  just 
after  repealing  the  vicious  Federalist  law.  All  Federal  judges 
held  "  during  good  behavior  " ;  and  the  only  way  left  for  the 
Republicans  to  get  a  foothold  was  to  remove  old  judges  by 
impeachment. 

After  much  hesitation  and  only  half-heartedly,  Jefferson 
and  his  party  tried  this  method.  Justice  Pickering,  of  the 
New  Hampshire  District,  was  removed  for  drunkenness  while 
on  duty,1  but  an  attempt  to  remove  Justice  Chase  from  the 
Supreme  Court  for  his  partisan  and  unjudicial  conduct  failed 
of  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote  in  the  Senate.  Then  the  move 
ment  was  dropped. 

1  The  Federalists  defended  Pickering  on  the  ground  of  insanity,  —  insisting 
at  the  same  time  that  there  was  no  constitutional  ground  for  impeachment.  In 
deed,  until  recently  it  has  been  held  that  the  "  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  " 
named  in  the  Constitution  as  the  occasion  for  impeachment,  must  be  such 
offenses  as  the  accused  man  might  be  indicted  for  before  a  criminal  court.  The 
difficulty  was  evaded  this  time  in  the  Senate  by  voting  that  Pickering  was 
"guilty  as  charged."  In  1913,  the  Senate,  without  any  evasion,  removed 
Justice  Archbold  from  the  United  States  Commerce  Court  for  "  graft,"  al 
though  no  laws  could  reach  his  offense. 


378  JEFFERSONIAN  REPUBLICANISM  [§  451 

451.  The  breakdown  of  this  attack  upon  Federalism  in  the  Courts 
left  John  Marshall  free  to  complete  Hamilton's  work  and  to  make 
the  Constitution  a  National  constitution  by  his  judicial  decisions. 
Marshall  was  one  of  Adams'  latest  appointments.  He  served 
as  Chief  Justice  from  1801  to  1835 ;  and  his  wonderful  influ 
ence  over  his  associates  brought  to  his  way  of  thought  five 
Republican  justices  appointed  by  Jefferson  and  Madison  to 
outweigh  him.  He  was  a  man  of  simple  manners,  of  direct, 
upright,  engaging  character,  of  mighty  intellect,  but  of  strong 
prejudices. 

Marshall's  first  great  decision  was  in  the  famous  case  of 
Marbury  vs.  Madison.  Adams'  appointments  had  been  com 
pleted  so  late  on  March  3  that  some  of  the  commissions  were 
left  undelivered.  Jefferson  declared  such  papers  of  no  account, 
and  made  new  appointments.  A  certain  Marbury,  whom  Adams 
had  named  as  marshal  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  sued  in  the 
Supreme  Court  for  a  writ  of  mandamus,  to  compel  Madison 
(the  new  Secretary  of  State)  to  issue  to  him  his  withheld 
commission.  The  court  declared,  through  Marshall's  pen,  that 
it  had  no  jurisdiction  in  such  a  suit.1  The  Judiciary  Act  of  1780 
had  distinctly  given  the  Supreme  Court  authority  to  issue  just 
such  writs  ;  but,  since  the  Constitution  itself  did  not  name  any 
such  contest  between  a  citizen  and  a  public  officer  as  included  in 
the  original  jurisdiction  for  the  Supreme  Court,  that  particular 
provision  of  the  law  of  1789  was  now  declared  unconstitutional 
and  void. 

This  was  the  first  time  the  Supreme  Court  declared  void  any  part  of  an 
Act  of  Congress.  The  clause  was  one  conferring  power  upon  the  court  it 
self.  No  other  so  modest  opportunity  could  have  been  found.  But  the 


1  Marshall's  partisan  feeling  led  him,  none  the  less,  to  add  that  Marbury 
was  legally  entitled  to  the  office.  Since  Marshall  had  been  acting  through 
March  3  as  Adams'  Secretary  of  State,  in  signing  commissions,  he  came 
perilously  near  acting  as  judge  in  a  case  in  which  he  was  himself  vitally 
interested.  Professor  Channing  says  (Jeffersonian  System,  118), —  "This  is 
the  one  decision  in  Marshall's  judicial  career  which  still  gives  pain  to  all  but 
his  blindest  admirers." 


§  453]  THE   TWO-TERM  PRINCIPLE  379 

argument  of  the  Chief  Justice  went  on,  far  beyond  the  immediate  case,  to 
establish  this  power  of  the  courts  in  all  cases  where,  in  their  judgment, 
they  might  find  conflict  between  a  law  and  the  fundamental  law.  The 
decision  was  to  become  the  basis  for  future  extension  of  this  power. 

452.  In  1804  Jefferson  was  reflected  by  162  electoral  votes  to 
14;  and  even  in  the  Senate  of  thirty-four  members,  there  were 
only  seven  Federalists.     Jefferson's  popularity  seemed  higher 
than  ever.     Early  in  his  second  term,  the  Vermont  legislature 
requested  him  to  permit  his  name  to  be  used  a  third  time,  for  the 
campaign  of  1808,  and  this  nomination  was  promptly  seconded 
by  legislatures  in  seven  other  states.   Jefferson  declined,  and  used 
the  opportunity  to  establish  firmly  one  more  Republican  doctrine- 
Washington's  refusal  to  be  a  candidate  for  a  third  term  had 
no  constitutional  bearing.     He  refused  for  purely  personal  rea 
sons,  and  he  felt  it  needful  to  excuse  himself  against  a  possible 
charge  of  lack  of  patriotism,  in  laying  down  his  task.     Jefferson 
declined,  in  order  to  establish  a  principle.     Some  limit,  he  said, 
should  be  fixed  by  custom  (since  none  was  specified  in  the  Con 
stitution),  or  the  President's  tenure  might  come  to  be  for  life. 
The  limit  should  be  two  terms,  as  already  suggested  by  Wash 
ington's  action.     Any  longer  tenure  would  be  "  dangerous  to 
Republican  institutions." 

This  response  caught  the  popular  imagination.  Addresses 
poured  in  from  mass  meetings  and  legislatures  approving  its 
patriotism  and  its  doctrine,  and  expressing  ardent  hope  that  the 
example  might  be  followed  in  succeeding  history.  The  prin 
ciple  became  at  once  so  firmly  imbedded  in  our  unwritten  con 
stitution  that  only  once  has  an  attempt  been  made  to  override  it. 

453.  In  Jefferson's  second  administration,  a  new  tone  of  central 
ization   was   noticeable.     Republicanism   had   been   modified  by 
the  very  completeness  of  its  victory.     Nearly  half  its  adherents 
now  had  formerly  been  Federalists,  and  still  remained  half 
Federalist  in  political  thought.     Moreover,  the  "Old  Repub 
licans  "  themselves,  under  the  responsibilities  and  opportunities- 
of  office,  began  to  feel  differently  toward  the  power  of  the 
government. 


380  JEFFERSONIAN  REPUBLICANISM  [§  454 

Jefferson,  indeed,  strove  valiantly  not  to  "  make  waste  paper 
of  the  Constitution  by  construction."  But,  he  came  to  favor 
amendments  such  as  would  have  greatly  enlarged  the  sphere  of 
the  government's  action.1  And,  lacking  the  amendments,  he 
reluctantly  acted  sometimes  under  the  doctrine  of  implied 
powers  which  he  had  once  denounced. 

454.  The  first  such  extension  of  powers  concerned  the  im 
provement  of  harbors.    The  government  raised  a  sunken  gunboat 
which  imperiled  a  harbor  entrance ;  and  this  precedent  led  to 
the  further  removal  of  harbor  obstructions.     The  building  of  dry- 
docks,  to  protect  the  unused  national  navy,  was  extended  to  the 
construction  of  public  wharves  for  commerce.     And,  though 
Jefferson  had  looked  with  critical  eye  upon  the  construction  of 
a  Federal  lighthouse2  in  Washington's  time,. he  now  quietly 
approved  large  appropriations  for  the  exceedingly  useful  coast 
survey,  inaugurated  in  1806. 

455.  The  excuse  for  Federal  expenditure  on  harbors  was  that 
it  was  paid  for  out  of  the  tonnage  tax  on  vessels  that  used  the 
harbors.     But,  what  harbors  were  to  Eastern  communities,  roads 
would  be  to  the  people  of  the  West.     Why  should  not  the  nation 
build  such  roads  and  pay  for  them  out  of  the  sale  of  the  public 
lands,  —  to  which  they  would  give  value  ?     This  was  the  guise 
under  which   the   question   of   " internal  improvements"  first 
appeared. 

When  Ohio  was  admitted  as  a  State  (1802),  the  national  gov 
ernment  still  owned  a  vast  domain  within  the  borders  of  the 
new  commonwealth.  On  the  suggestion  of  Gallatin,  Congress 
promised  that  one  twentieth  of  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
those  lands  should  be  used  in  building  roads  from  Atlantic 

i  In  his  second  inaugural  Jefferson  called  attention  to  the  rapid  decrease  of 
the  debt,  and  to  the  fact  that  only  a  few  millions  more  could  be  taken  up  in  the 
next  few  years  (the  rest  not  being  due) .  He  then  suggested  that,  instead  of 
decreasing  the  revenue  tariffs  "  on  luxuries,"  the  surplus  revenue,  by  a  proper 
•  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  might  be  applied  to  "rivers,  canals,  roads, 
a,rts9manufactures,  education,  and  other  great  objects."  Soon  after,  he  wrote 
to  Gallatin  that  he  was  impatient  "  to  begin  upon  canals,  roads,  colleges,  etc." 
2 "The  utility  of  the  thing  has  sanctioned  the  infraction,"  he  said  later. 


§  458J  THE  NATIONAL  ROAD  381 

rivers  to  the  Ohio  river,  and  afterward  on  roads  within  the 
State.  The  strict  constructionists  excused  the  measure  as  a 
bargain  between  the  United  States  and  Ohio.  Ohio,  said  Gal- 
latin,  could  hardly  be  expected  to  acquiesce  in  the  nation's  re 
taining  title  to  the  vast  public  domain  within  the  State  without 
some  such  sop. 

But  lands  sold  slowly,  and  in  1806  Congress  agreed  to-  ad 
vance  $30,000  (to  be  repaid  out  of  the  future  land  sales)  ; 
and  a  survey  was  begun  at  once  for  "  The  National  Road,"  from 
Fort  Cumberland  in  Maryland,  on  the  Potomac,  to  Wheeling 
in  western  Virginia,  on  the  upper  Ohio. 

456.  In   his   next   message  to  Congress  (December,  1806), 
Jefferson  urged   (along  with  the   suggestion   of  a  necessary 
amendment)  a  national  university  and  a  system  of  internal  im 
provements  to  cement  the  union  between  the  States.      Without 
reference  to  the  need  of  an  amendment,  Congress  replied  by  ask  • 
ing  the  executive  to  submit  a  plan  for  roads  and  canals. 

This  led  to  Gallatin's  famous  report  of  1808.  That  paper 
sketched  a  comprehensive  system  of  communication  to  be  built 
during  a  period  of  ten  years,  at  an  expense  of  $  2,000,000  a 
year.  (1)  Canals  through  Cape  Cod,  New  Jersey,  and  other 
projections  were  to  create  a  shorter  and  safer  inside  coast 
route.  (2)  A  turnpike  was  to  run  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 
And  (3)  turnpikes  were  to  join  four, eastern  rivers  with  streams 
beyond  the  mountains.  But  at  this  moment  national  revenue 
fell  away,  because  of  the  embargo  (§  472),  and  for  some  years 
all  such  projects  were  lost  in  war  clouds. 

457.  Pennsylvania,  alone  of  the  States,  began  to  act  vigorously  for 
herself.     In  the  six  years  after  Gallatin's  plan  was  dropped  by  Congress 
(1809-1815),  that  State  spent  $2,000,000  on  roads,  and,  under  State  en 
couragement,  private  corporations  spent  twice  as  much  more  on  toll  roads. 
By  1815,  a  thousand  miles  of  turnpikes,  with  good  bridges,  linked  together 
the  important  districts  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  joined  the  eastern  waters 
with  Pittsburg  on  the  Ohio. 

458.  Western  settlement  continued  in  the  period  1800-1810 
much  as  in  the  ten  years  preceding,  with  much  less  peril  from 


382  JEFFERSONIAN  REPUBLICANISM  [§  458 

Indians.  Three  distinct  waves  of  settlement  were  noticeable, 
as  for  long  after  on  the  frontier.  Backwoodsmen  opened  small 
clearings,  which,  after  a  few  years,  were  bought  out  and  enlarged 
by  pioneer  farmers,  who,  in  turn,  soon  followed  the  backwoods 
hunters  farther  west,  selling  out  their  first  homes  to  a  more  per 
manent  set  of  farmers  with  more  capital. 


A  CONESTOGA  WAGON.  From  an  old  print.  An  early  and  clumsy  form  of 
"prairie  schooner,"  much  uSfed  in  the  emigration  from  the  coast  region 
to  the  Ohio  after  Pennsylvania  built  her  roads. 

The  "backwoodsmen"  were  usually  "squatters."  The  "farmers" 
secured  title  from  the  Federal  government.  After  1800,  land  could  be 
bought  in  160-acre  lots  at  two  dollars  an  acre.  And  only  one  fourth  of 
this  had  to  be  paid  down :  the  rest  could  be  paid  over  a  period  of  four 
years,  "out  of  the  profits  of  the  crops."  In  the  ten  years  before  1800, 
less  than  a  million  acres  of  public  land  had  been  sold  to  settlers  by  the 
government ;  but,  in  the  next  twenty  years,  sales  averaged  a  million  acres 
a  year,  and  the  lines  of  would-be  purchasers  before  Western  land  offices 
suggested  the  phrase,  "  doing  a  land-office  business." 

Between  1800  and  1810,  Ohio  grew  ninefold,  —  from  45,000 
to  406,000 ;  while  24,000  people  pressed  on  into  the  southern 


459] 


THE   WEST 


383 


districts  of  Indiana,  and  half  that  many  penetrated  even  into 
southern  Illinois.  Even  the  older  communities  south  of  the 
Ohio,  —  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  —  doubled  their  numbers,  ris 
ing  to  two  thirds  of  a  million.  In  1811,  1200  flatboats  passed 
the  rapids  of  the  Ohio  with  cargoes  of  bacon,  beef,  and  flour, 
bound  down  river.  The  West  had  found  a  way,  also,  to  market 
large  parts  of  its  corn  "  on  the  hoof."  Each  fall,  immense 


CINCINNATI  IN  1810.     From  Howe's  Historical  Collections  of  Ohio. 

droves  of  cattle  and  hogs  (4000  "  razor-backs  "  in  one  drove) 
were  driven  over  the  wagon  roads  to  the  eastern  cities,  finding 
subsistence  as  they  moved. 

459.  And  now  came  the  steamboat,  with  its  promise  of  making 
the  vast  western  territory  accessible.  The  Watts  stationary 
steam  engine  had  been  in  use  in  England  for  several  years 
and  in  1800  there  were  four  or  live  such  engines  in  America. 
But  in  this  country,  with  its  tremendous  distances,  and  its 
lack  of  roads,  the  first  need  was  to  apply  steam  to  locomotion  by 
water. 

As  early  as  1789,  John  Fitch,  a  poor  man  without  education 
but  with  wonderful  inventive  genius,  built  a  ferryboat  with 
paddles  driven  by  a  steam  engine  of  his  own  construction,  and 
ran  it  up  as  well  as  down  the  river  at  Philadelphia  for  some 
months.  In  spite  of  this  remarkable  success,  Fitch  could  not 


384  JEFFERSONI AN  REPUBLICANISM  [§  459 

raise  money,  East  or  West,  to  improve  or  continue  his  experi 
ment  ;  and  he  put  an  end  to  his  life,  in  disgust  and  despair,  in 
a  Kentucky  tavern  (1798). l 

Robert  Fulton  was  more  fortunate.  He  too  had  spent  heart 
breaking  years,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  in  attempts  to  find 
capital  to  back  his  invention.  Napoleon  repulsed  him  as  a 
faker ; 2  but  at  last  he  secured  money  from  Chancellor  Living 
ston  of  New  York.  In  1807,  amid  the  jeers  of  the  bystanders, 


FULTON'S  STEAMER,  The  Clermont.    From  a  model  in  the  National  Museum 
at  Washington. 

he  launched  the  Clermont.  That  boat  amazed  the  world  by  a 
trial  trip  up  the  river  from  New  York  to  Albany  (150  miles)  in 
32  hours.  The  next  year  a  line  of  steamboats  was  plying  regu 
larly  on  the  Hudson,  and  men  were  planning  them  on  Western 
rivers. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Channing's  Jeffersonian  System,  chs.  i,  ii. 
Schouler's  Jefferson  is  a  brief  readable  biography. 

1  During  these  same  years,  Philadelphia  had  another  neglected  genius, 
Oliver  Evans,  who  likewise  built  a  steam  engine  suited  for  locomotion ;  but 
again  the  inventor  failed  to  secure  money  to  finance  the  undertaking  to  prac 
tical  success.  Fitch's  claim  to  priority  in  steam  navigation  is  disputed  also 
in  favor  of  James  Rumsey  of  Maryland.  Rumsey  certainly  ran  a  steamboat 
on  the  Potomac  in  1787.  2  Modern  World,  §  664. 


| '— -|  England 

Spain    \          \France     \  \Jtussig 

-Southern  extent  of  Russia's  Claim,  1821 


CHAPTER   XLI 

TERRITORIAL  EXPANSION 

I.     THE    WESTERN  HALF  OF  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

460.  The  most  important  one  event  in  Jefferson's  administration 
was  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  Jefferson  had  always  sympathized 
with  the  attitude  of  the  West  toward  Spain's  hold  upon  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  (§  305). x  Man  of  peace  though  he 
was,  he  had  said  that  such  portions  of  the  vast  domain  of  dying 
Spain  as  we  wanted  must  come  to  us  in  time,  —  by  force  if 
necessary ;  but  he  had  believed  confidently  that  such  territory 
must  drop  peacefully  into  our  hands,  as  Spain's  grasp  weakened. 

But  late  in  1801  fell  a  thunderbolt :  America  learned  that 
Spain  had  secretly  ceded  Louisiana  back  to  France,  then  the 
most  aggressive  of  European  nations.  Congress  hastily  passed 
a  war  appropriation ;  and  Jefferson,  spite  of  his  French  sym 
pathies,  saw  that  we  must  fight 2  or  purchase.  He  instructed 
Livingston,  our  minister  at  Paris,  to  buy  the  island  of  New 
Orleans,  and  sent  Monroe,  as  special  envoy,  to  help  him. 
Monroe  found  a  great  and  unexpected  bargain  practically  com 
pleted.  Napoleon  had  suddenly  changed  front ;  and,  April  30, 

1  In  1786  Jay  had  proposed  a  treaty  with  Spain,  whereby,  in  return  for 
certain  commercial  concessions,  we  were  to  surrender  for  twenty-five  years 
all  claim  to  navigate  the  Mississippi;   but  Jefferson  wrote  from  Paris,  in 
solemn  warning,  "The  act  which  abandons  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
is  an  act  of  separation  between  us  and  the  Western  country." 

2  Jefferson  said  that  France  had  become  our  foe  "  by  the  laws  of  Nature." 
He  wrote  to  Livingston  :  ' '  There  is  on  the  globe  one  single  spot,  the  possessor 
of  which  is  our  natural  .  .  .  enemy.  .  .  .    France,  placing  herself  in  that 
door,  assumes  to  us  an  attitude  of  defiance.  .  .  .    The  day  that  France  takes 
possession  of  New  Orleans  .  .  .  seals  the  union  of  two  nations  who,  in  con 
junction,  can  maintain  exclusive  possession  of  the  ocean.    From  that  moment 
we  must  marry  ourselves  to  the  British  fleet  and  nation." 

385 


386  JEFFERSONIAN  REPUBLICANISM  [§  460 

1803,  for  the  petty  price  of  $15,000,000,  the  United  States 
doubled  its  territory. 

A  splendid  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  French  veterans 
had  just  wasted  away,  against  tropical  fever  and  the  general 
ship  of  the  Negro  leader  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  in  an  attempt 
to  secure  Haiti  as  a  halfway  station  to  Louisiana.  Napoleon 
hesitated  to  send  more  of  his  soldiers  to  hold  the  swamps  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  against  American  frontiersmen 
swarming  down  that  stream.  Moreover,  he  had  already  decided 
upon  a  new  war  with  England ;  and  a  distant  colony  would  be 
exposed  to  almost  certain  seizure  by  the  English  navy.  So 
Napoleon  abandoned  his  dream  of  American  colonial  empire, 
together  with  his  solemn  pledges  to  Spain,1  and,  with  charac 
teristic  abruptness,  forced  upon  the  American  negotiators  not 
merely  the  patch  of  ground  they  asked  for  at  the  river's  mouth, 
but  the  whole  western  half  of  the  great  river  valley,  —  which 
they  had  not  particularly  wanted. 

The  heart  of  the  American  people  was  immediately  fired  by 
the  grand  prospect  of  expansion  opened  before  us  by  the  Pur 
chase  ;  and  Jefferson  wrote  a  few  weeks  later :  — 

"  Objections  are  raising  to  the  eastward  [among  leaders  of  New  Eng 
land  Federalism]  to  the  vast  extent  of  our  territory,  and  propositions  are 
made  to  exchange  Louisiana,  or  a  part  of  it,  for  the  Floridas.  But  \ve 
shall  get  the  Floridas  without,  and  /  would  not  give  one  inch  of  the  waters 
of  the  Mississippi  to  any  foreign  power. ' ' 

1  Spain  had  hoped  to  find  compensation  for  Louisiana  by  interposing  France 
as  a  barrier  between  the  United  States  and  her  other  American  possessions. 
Talleyrand,  who  had  managed  the  French  negotiations  with  Spain,  played 
upon  this  string.  "The  Americans,"  he  urged,  "are  devoured  by  pride," 
and  "  mean  at  any  cost  to  rule  alone  in  the  whole  continent.  .  .  .  The  only 
means  of  putting  an  end  to  their  ambition  is  to  shut  them  up  within  the  limits 
Nature  seems  to  have  traced  for  them  [east  of  the  Mississippi].  .  .  .  Spain, 
therefore,  cannot  too  quickly  engage  the  aid  of  a  preponderating  power, 
yielding  to  it  a  small  part  of  her  immense  dominions  in  order  to  preserve 
the  rest.  .  .  .  France  [mistress  of  Louisiana]  will  be  to  her  a  wall  of  brass, 
impenetrable  forever  to  the  combined  efforts  of  England  and  America." 
Finally,  a  specific  pledge  never  to  alienate  the  province  to  America  became 
part  of  the  price  France  paid. 


§  461]  THE   LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  387 

The  opposition  by  the  little  coterie  of  Federalist  leaders,  and  their 
jealous  dread  of  the  West,  proved  once  more  that  they  were  rightly  dis 
trusted  by  the  nation.  The  Jeffersonian  Republicans,  with  whatever 
follies,  were  "the  safest  guardians  of  the  country,  because  they  believed 
in  its  future  and  strove  to  make  it  greater." 

461.  Three  Constitutional  questions  carne  into  prominence  in 
connection  with  the  purchase  treaty. 

a.  Power  to  acquire   territory  is  not  among   the   powers  of 
Congress  enumerated  in  the  Constitution.     According  to  the 
"  strict  construction "  theory,  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  was 
unconstitutional.     Jefferson  wanted  an  amendment  to  confirm 
the  purchase :  — 

"  The  executive,"  he  wrote,  "  in  seizing  the  fugitive  occurrence  which 
so  much  advances  the  good  of  their  country,  have  done  an  act  beyond 
the  Constitution.  The  legislature  .  .  .  risking  themselves  like  faithful 
servants,  must  ratify  and  pay  for  it,  and  [then]  throw  themselves  on  the 
country  "  for  an  amendment,  which  should  be  also  "an  act  of  indemnity." 

But  he  found  no  one  among  his  friends  willing  to  risk  the 
precious  prize  by  the  delay  that  must  go  with  an  attempt  at 
amendment.  Such  a  move  would  imply  that  the  purchase 
was  not  fully  ratified ;  and  meanwhile  Napoleon  might  again 
change  his  mind.  So  that  plan  was  dropped.  In  the  debates 
in  Congress,  Republican  members  adopted  frankly  the  doctrine 
of  "implied  powers."  The  right  to  acquire  territory  must 
exist,  they  argued,  as  a  result  (1)  of  the  right  to  make  treaties, 
and  (2)  of  the  power  to  make  war  and  peace. 

b.  Were  the  inhabitants  entitled  to  civil  and  political  rights  ? 
New  Orleans  had  a  population  of  50,000.     The  treaty  of  pur 
chase  had  promised  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  should 
be  "  incorporated  in  the   Union  of   the  United   States "  and 
admitted,  as   soon  as  possible,  to  all   the  rights  of   citizens. 
The  Federalists  based  their  opposition  to  the  treaty  mainly  on 
this  provision.     The  admission  of  a  new  member  to  "  the  part 
nership  of  States,"  they  urged,  was  not  permissible  "  except 
by  the  consent  of  all  the  old  partners."     This  was  State  sov 
ereignty  doctrine. 


388  PURCHASE   OF  LOUISIANA  [§  461 

The  Republicans  themselves  hesitated  to  carry  out  the 
promise  of  statehood  to  a  foreign  population  bitterly  aggrieved 
at  transfer  to  American  rule.  In  the  spring  of  1804  Congress 
divided  the  newly  acquired  region  into  two  parts.  The 
larger  northern  part  (almost  uninhabited),  styled  the  "District 
of  Louisiana,"  was  attached  to  Indiana  Territory  (§  317). 
The  southern  part  was  created  "The  Territory  of  New 
Orleans " ;  but  the  government  was  intrusted  to  a  governor, 
council,  and  judges  all  appointed  by  the  President;  and  provision 
was  made  for  jury  trial  in  capital  cases  only. 

This  was  a  denial  of  all  right  of  self-government  to  a  highly 
civilized  and  densely  settled  district.  It  seemed  strangely  out 
of  place  at  the  hand  of  Jeifersonians,  and  it  caused  loud  outcry 
in  New  Orleans.  The  Republicans  defended  the  constitution 
ality  of  the  Act  on  the  ground  that  the  guarantees  in  the 
Constitution  applied  only  to  citizens  of  the  States,  not  to  inhab 
itants  of  "  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States  "  (c  below). 
In  1811,  after  a  bitter  struggle  in  Congress,  the  Territory  of 
New  Orleans  came  into  the  Union  as  the  State  of  Louisiana. 

The  New  England  Federalists  resisted  the  admission  furiously,  because 
it  seemed  to  transfer  political  power  to  the  South.  Josiah  Quincy,  their 
leader  in  Congress,  affirmed:  "I  am  compelled  to  declare  it  as  my 
deliberate  opinion  that,  if  this  bill  passes,  the  bonds  of  this  union  are, 
virtually,  dissolved  ;  that  the  States  which  compose  it  are  free  from  their 
moral  obligations,  and  that,  as  it  will  be  the  right  of  all,  so  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  some,  to  prepare,  definitely,  for  a  separation :  amicably,  if  they 
can;  violently,  if  they  must.  .  .  ." 

c.  The  treaty  promised  certain  exemptions  from  tariffs  to 
French  and  Spanish  ships  in  Louisiana  ports  for  twelve  years. 
The  Constitution  requires  that  "  all  duties  shall  be  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States."  Was  there  a  conflict  between 
these  provisions  ? 

The  answer  depends  upon  the  meaning  of  "  United  States  " 
in  the  clause  quoted.  That  term,  territorially,  has  two  mean 
ings.  To-day  we  give  it  commonly  the  larger  sense  in  which 
it  signifies  all  the  land  under  the  government  of  the  American 


§  462]  FEDERALIST   OPPOSITION  389 

nation,  —  States,  Territories,  and  unorganized  Domain.  But 
the  Constitution,  certainly  in  some  places,  and  probably  in  all, 
uses  the  term  to  signify  only  the  territory  within  the  States. 
Territory  not  within  a  State,  was  not  referred  to  as  "part  of 
the  United  States,"  but  as  "  belonging  to  the  United  States  " 
(Art.  IV).  In  this  sense,  New  Orleans  was  not,  in  1803-1810, 
a  part  of  the  United  States.1  For  such  "  territory  "  Congress 
is  authorized  to  make  "  all  needful  rules  and  regulations." 

EXERCISE. — For  consideration:  (1)  Can  Congress  constitutionally 
continue  to  govern  Hawaii  indefinitely  as  a  Territory,  without  admitting 
her  as  a  State  ?  (2)  Could  Hawaii  be  deprived  by  Congress  of  all  share 
in  her  own  government,  even  after  having  been  permitted  such  a  share 
for  a  while  ? 

II.    WEST    FLORIDA  AND    THE   TEXAS    CLAIM 

462.  The  Louisiana  Purchase  gave  rise,  also,  to  the  West  Florida 
question.  Under  France,  before  1763,  Louisiana  had  included  a 
strip  of  Gulf  coast  east  of  the  Mississippi's  mouth.  But  when 
France  ceded  Louisiana  to  Spain  (1763),  England  had  already 
secured  that  strip  and  was  governing  it  as  "  West  Florida  "  (from 
the  Iberville,  or  eastern  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  to  the  Ap- 
palachicola).  The  treaty  of  1763  between  Spain  and  England 
made  these  boundaries  plain.  Louisiana  then  comprised  (1) 
the  vast  valley  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  (2)  the  island  of 
New  Orleans,-  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Iberville.  In  1783, 
Spain  recovered  both  Louisiana  (from  France)  and  West  Florida 
(from  England).  But  she  did  not  reunite  them.  She  kept  the 
two  provinces  under  separate  governments  and  under  these  sepa 
rate  names  ;  and  in  1800  she  ceded  back  to  France  only  the  one 
she  then  called  Louisiana. 

1  Almost  identical  questions  have  arisen  since,  in  connection  with  the 
acquisition  of  Florida  and  the  Philippines.  In  the  Florida  case,  the  Supreme 
Court  held  that  the  ports  of  that  newly  acquired  territory  were  not  ports  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States  did  not 
apply  there  unless  expressly  extended  by  act  of  Congress.  In  the  other  case, 
the  Court  upheld  a  tariff  between  the  "  insular  possessions"  and  the  rest  of 
the  "United  States." 


390 


THE   LOUISIANA   PURCHASE 


FRENCH  LOUISIANA  AND  SPANISH  FLORIDA,  1756. 
(With  dividing  line  at  the  Perdido.) 


ENGLISH  WEST  FLORIDA,  1773-1783. 
(From  the  Mississippi  to  the  Appalachicola.) 


89        I  87       /  J5     /        V.  83  J 


93  91      Lonsitude     89          West          87          from          85     Greenwich      83 


SPANISH  AND  AMERICAN  WEST  FLORIDA,  17H3-1819. 
(The  figures  show  date  of  acquisition  by  the  United  States.) 


§  464]  WEST   FLORIDA  AND   TEXAS  391 

463.  Livingston  had  been  instructed  to  get  West  Florida  if  pos 
sible.     Now,  taking  advantage  of  the  vague  wording  of  his  pur 
chase  treaty,  he  set  up  the  claim  that  he  had  done  so.     Indeed 
he  urged  the  government  to  use  "  the  favorable  moment  "  to 
take  possession,  "  even  though  a  little  force  should  be  neces 
sary."      Jefferson  seems  to  have  approved   the   idea.      John 
Randolph,  the  spokesman  for  the  administration  in  Congress, 
declared  we  had  bought  the  mouth  of  "the  Mobile  with  its 
Avidely  extended  branches  ;  and  there  is  not  now  a  single  stream 
of  note  rising  within  the  United  States  and  falling  into  the 
Gulf  .  .  .  which  is  not   entirely  our  own,  the  Appalachicola 
excepted." 

But  when  Napoleon  sent  his  lieutenant,  Laussat,  to  America 
in  1803,  to  take  formal  possession  of  Louisiana  from  Spain,  in 
order  to  transfer  it  to  the  United  States,  he  told  that  officer 
plainly  that  the  eastern  boundary  was  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Ibewille.  Laussat  so  told  Jefferson  ;  and  we  received  Louisiana 
with  this  understanding,  and  without  protest.  None  the  less,  a 
few  weeks  later,  Congress  created  West  Florida  into  a  United 
States  revenue  district,  and  annexed  it  to  the  Territory  of  Mis 
sissippi.  This  "  Mobile  Act,"  however,  was  never  put  in  force. 
Spain's  protest  was  so  unanswerable  that  Jefferson  was  driven 
into  discreditable  evasions  in  trying  to  explain  his  position. 

464.  Thus  the  matter  slumbered  six  years.    In  1808  Napoleon 
seized  Spain,  and  soon  the  Spanish  colonies  in  America,  one  by 
one,  became  independent  states.1     In  West  Florida  this  move 
ment  was  managed  by  Americans  who  had  migrated  across  the 
Iberville  and  formed  settlements  between  that  river  and  the 
Perdido.     In  July,  1810,  they  demanded  from  the  Spanish  gov 
ernor  a  remodeling  of  the  government.     For  a  while  they  acted 
in  harmony  with  him  ;  but  soon  they  issued  a  declaration  of 
independence,  and  applied  to  the  United  States  for  annexation. 
October  27,  President  Madison  ordered  the  American  governor  at 
New  Orleans  to  take  military  possession  as  far  as  to  the  Perdido, 


World,  §638. 


392  THE   LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  [§  465 

and  Congress  then  annexed  the  district  to  the  Territory  of  New 
Orleans  (§  461). 

Madison  tried  to  justify  this  robbery  of  a  friendly  power  by 
pretending  to  fear  that  England  might  seize  the  territory  if  we 
did  not  (a  convenient  pretext  used  by  our  government  more  than 
once  since  to  cover  land  grabs) ;  but,  unhappily,  recent  research 
proves  beyond  dispute  that  the  whole  rising  had  been  inspired 
from  New  Orleans  in  accordance  with  instructions  from  Washing 
ton  (American  Historical  Association  Reports  for  1911). 

As  settlement  poured  into  the  Mississippi  Territory,  West  Florida  cer 
tainly  became  worth  far  more  to  us  than  it  was  to  Spain.  It  lay,  a  nar 
row  strip,  between  us  and  our  natural  coast  line.  It  held  the  mouths  of 
our  rivers  and  the  harbors  of  our  commerce,  while  to  Spain  it  meant 
nothing  except  the  chance  to  limit  our  power.  If  the  two  countries  had 
been  individuals,  Spain  would  have  been  morally  bound  to  sell  at  a  fair 
price  ;  but  any  court  would  have  defended  her  title,  if,  immorally,  she 
insisted  upon  annoying  her  neighbor  by  keeping  possession.  Between 
two  nations,  as  matters  went  in  that  day,  it  was  inevitable  that  we  should 
get  the  district,  —  if  not  by  fair  bargaining,  then  by  open  force.  The  un 
fortunate  thing  is  that  the  actual  procedure  was  such  a  needless  and  inex 
tricable  mixture  of  violence  and  deceit. 

465.  The  boundary  between  Louisiana  and  Mexico  had  never  been 
defined.     Napoleon's  instructions  to  Laussat  placed  the  dividing 
line  at  the  Rio  Grande.     If  that  was  correct,  we  had  bought  Texas. 
But  Spain  protested  that  the  proper  boundary  was  the  Sabine. 
The  question  was  complicated ;  we  cared  little  about  it  at  the 
time  ;  the  territory  was  a  wilderness,  without  White  inhabitants 
except  at  a  few  Spanish  missions  ;  and  in  1819  we  surrendered 
all  claim  to  Texas  as  part  of  the  price  we  paid  for  East  Florida, 
which  we  were  then  buying  from  Spain. 

III.    WESTERN  EXPLORATION 

466.  Jefferson  had  long  manifested  a  scientific  interest  in  "  de 
lineating  the  arteries  of  the  continent."     In  1783  he  had  urged 
George  Eogers  Clark  to  explore  the  West  to  the  Pacific  ;    and 
three  years  later,  while  in  France,  he  had   persuaded  Led- 


468] 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK 


393 


yard,  an  American  traveler,  to  attempt  to  reach  the  Pacific  coast 
of  America  by  way  of  Siberia  and  the  ocean.  There  must  be 
a  great  river,  he  argued,  flowing  from  the  western  mountains 
into  the  Pacific,  rising  near 
the  head  waters  of  the  Mis 
souri.  The  explorer  could 
ascend  this  stream  and  de 
scend  the  Missouri  to  St. 
Louis. 

467.  Ledyard  was  turned 
back  by  suspicious  Russian 
officials.     But  in  1792  Cap 
tain  Gray  of  Boston,  in  his 
ship  Columbia,  discovered  the 
mouth  of  the  prophesied  river, 
and  named  it  for  his  vessel. 
This  was  our  first  basis  for 
future  claim  to  the  Oregon 
country.    As  soon  as  Jeffer 
son   became   President,  he 
secured  from  Congress  an 
appropriation    for    an    ex 
ploring  expedition  to  that 
country,  to  be  led  by  Meri- 
wether  Lewis   (Jefferson's 
private       secretary)      and 
Captain  William   Clark  (a 
brother  of   George  Rogers 
Clark).     Before   the   expe 
dition  was  ready,  the  pur 
chase    of   Louisiana   made 
much  of  the  territory  to  be 

explored  our  own,  and  gave  us  possessions  contiguous  to  the  un 
occupied  and  almost  unclaimed  Oregon  district. 

468.  Lewis  and  Clark  set  out  from  St.  Louis  with  thirty-five 
men,   in   the  spring  of  1804.     Sixteen  hundred  miles  up  the 


MERTWETHER  LEWIS,  in  hunting  cos 
tume.  From  "Winsor's  Narrative  and 
Critical  History,  after  a  contemporary 
drawing  among  the  possessions  of 
Lewis'  companion,  Captain  Clark,  — 
the  only  known  likeness  of  the  explorer. 


394  CLAIMS  TO   OREGON  [§  469 

Missouri,  near  the  modern  Bismarck,  they  wintered  among  the 
Mandan  Indians.  The  next  spring,  guided  by  the  "  Bird 
Woman  "  with  her  papoose  on  her  back,  they  continued  up  the 
river  to  the  water  shed,  and  followed  streams  down  the  western 
slope  until  they  found  a  mighty  river.  When  they  reached  its 
mouth  in  November,  four  thousand  miles  from  St.  Louis,  this 
river  proved  to  be  Captain  Gray's  Columbia.  This  exploration 
was  the  second  basis  for  American  claim  to  Oregon;  and  the 
scientific  observations,  maps,  and  journals  of  the  expedition  re 
vealed  a  vast  region  never  before  known  to  White  men. 

In  1811  Astoria  was  founded  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
Columbia,  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  as  a  station  for  the  fur  trade. 
This  occupation  by  American  citizens  made  a  third  basis  for  our 
claim  to  the  country. 

When  we  sought  to  establish  our  claim,  a  few  years  later  (§  503),  our 
government  tried  to  strengthen  its  case  by  holding  that  Oregon  was  part  of 
the  Louisiana  Purchase.  There  was  really  no  ground  whatever  for  argu 
ing  that  "  Louisiana"  ever  extended  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains;  but 
our  government  maps  kept  up  the  pretense  until  1901. 

469.  In  1805  part  of  the  small  army  was  again  made 
useful  in  the  interests  of  science  and  of  peaceful  expansion. 
Lieutenant  Zebulon  Pike,  with  a  small  company,  traced  the  Mis 
sissippi  from  St.  Louis  practically  to  its  source.  Afterward  he 
explored  the  Arkansas  and  Red  rivers ;  and,  in  tracing  the 
upper  waters  of  these  streams,  he  discovered  the  mountain  now 
known  as  Pikes  Peak. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Channing's  Jeffersonian  System,  Ogg's  Open 
ing  of  the  Mississippi,  or  Fish's  American  Diplomacy. 


CHAPTER   XLII 
THE  WAR  OF  1812 

470.  Our  foreign  relations  from  1806  to  1812  were  disgraceful. 

After  brief  truce,  the  European  war  began  again  in  1803,  and 
the  commercial  clauses  of  the  Jay  treaty  (§  404)  expired  soon 
after.  Napoleon  was  soon  master  of  the  continent,  with  all  the 
coast  line  from  Italy  to  Denmark.  His  sole  antagonist,  Eng 
land,  ruled  supreme  on  the  sea.1  The  only  neutral  power  with 
any  shipping  interests  was  the  United  States.  That  shipping 
fattened  on  its  monopoly ;  but  each  of  the  mighty  combatants 
strove  to  force  it  into  an  ally,  and  to  prevent  its  aiding  his  foe. 
English  "  Order  in  Council "  followed  French  "  Decree  "  ;  and 
whatever  American  shipping  the  one  did  not  declare  subject  to 
capture,  the  other  did.  Meantime,  our  own  government  lacked 
decision  to  take  sides,  or  power  to  defend  its  citizens. 

The  story  is  not  a  pleasant  one.  It  is  a  tale  of  outrageous 
robbery  by  both  European  powers,  and  of  American  vacillation 
and  disgrace.  Jefferson  and  Madison,  great  in  peace,  were  not 
suited  for  emergencies  of  this  kind.  Well-meaning,  gentle, 
trustful,  not  particularly  decisive,  they  were  buffeted  pitifully 
back  and  forth  between  the  arrogance  and  indifference  of  Eng 
lish  Pitt  and  Canning,  and  the  duplicity  and  insolent  greed  of 
French  Napoleon  and  Talleyrand. 

471.  If  war  is  ever  justifiable  for  any  provocation  short  of 
armed  invasion,  we  had  abundant  cause  to  fight  both  robbers  or 
either,  at  any  time  between  1806  and  1810.     Our  government 
shilly-shallied,  in  impotent  indecision,  until  the  energetic  part 
of  the  nation  rose  wrathfully  to  demand  that  we  fight  some  one 
at  once  to  win  back  self-respect.     Then  we  chose  the  wrong  time 
and,  apparently,  the  wrong  foe.     Unfortunately,  too,  our  choice 

1  Cf.  Modern  World,  §§  612,  620,  621. 
395 


396 


THE  WAR  OF   1812 


[§471 


of  a  foe  arrayed  us  on  the  side  of  the  European  despot  against 
the  only  hope  for  European  freedom.  The  rise  of  Napoleon 
had  reversed  the  position  of  England  and  France,  as  compared 
with  that  of  1793  (§  385). 

Says  Professor  A.  B.  Hart  (Foundations  of  American  Foreign  Policy, 
27)  :  "  The  United  States  waited  till  the  European  system  .  .  .  was  on 
the  point  of  falling  to  pieces  of  its  own  weight,  and  then  made  war  on  the 
power  which,  on  the  whole,  had  done  us  the  least  harm."  To  the  same 
effect,  and  with  more  carefully  chosen  words,  Professor  Channing  says 
(Jeffersonian  System,  200) :  **  One  may  say  that  both  parties  were  justi 
fied  in  seeking  to  distress  their  enemy  by  cutting  off  neutral  trade  ...  as  a 
war  measure.  .  .  .  The  intention  of  the  English  government  seems  to  have 
been  to  treat  the  neutral  fairly,  to  give  him  ample  warning,  and  to  miti 
gate  his  losses  by  permitting  him  to  seek  another  destination  for  his  cargo. 

The  French  administration 
of  the  decrees  was  peculi 
arly  harsh  and  unjust.  .  .  . 
In  short  the  French  seemed 
to  have  acted  with  the  least 
consideration  for  the  rights 
of  neutrals ;  but  the  English 
confiscated  so  many  more 
neutral  vessels,  owing  to 
the  activity  and  strength  of 
their  cruisers  and  priva 
teers,  that  the  greater  hos 
tility  was  aroused  against 
the  British." 


AN  EARLY  AMERICAN  MERCHANT  SHIP. 
From  an  old  print. 


To  complicate  the 
picture  further,  that 
section  of  the  country 

immediately  interested  —  the  section  whose  ships  were  being 
confiscated  and  sailors  impressed  —  did  not  want  war  at  any 
time,  certainly  not  with  England,  and  talked  freely  of  pre 
ferring  secession  from  the  Union.  In  1790,  before  the  wars 
of  the  French  Revolution  began,  550  English  merchant  ships 
entered  American  harbors.  In  1799,  when  the  first  series  of 
wars  closed,  the  number  had  sunk  to  100.  Meantime,  New 


§  473]  THE  EMBARGO   OF   1807  397 

England  shipping  had  increased  fivefold.  During  the  second 
series  of  wars,  —  until  we  ourselves  became  engaged,  —  Ameri 
can  shipping  continued  to  absorb  the  former  English  carrying 
trade  with  the  world.  Between  1803  and  1812,  England  seized 
a  thousand  American  merchantmen,  —  many  of  them  very 
properly,  for  violations  of  recognized  principles  of  interna 
tional  law ;  and  France  captured  more  than  half  that  number,  — 
the  greater  part  treacherously,  after  inviting  them  into  con 
tinental  harbors  by  special  proclamation.  But  New  England 
was  willing  to  submit  to  all  this,  and  to  the  impressment  of  her 
seamen,  rather  than  lose  her  golden  harvest  of  the  seas. 

472.  Jefferson's  second  administration  spent  its  chief  energy 
in  trying  to  maintain  a  policy  of  commercial  non-intercourse 
with  the  warring  powers,  in  order  to  compel  them  to  respect  our 
neutral  rights.     In  1807,  to  make  the  policy  effective,  Congress 
decreed  an  embargo  upon  all  American  shipping  bound  for  foreign 
ports  —  and  no  time  limit  was  specified  in  the  law.    This  was  not 
a  measure  preparatory  to  war :  it  was  war  in  commercial  form. 

The  embargo  caused  great  distress  among  workingmen  and 
commercial  classes  in  England,  but  those  classes  then  had  no 
voice  in  the  English  government.  The  landed  aristocracy, 
which  did  control  the  government,  in  death  grapple  with 
Napoleon,  hardened  its  heart  to  the  suffering  of  other  English 
men  as  an  inevitable  incident  of  the  great  war,  and  stubbornly 
refused  to  make  concessions  to  America. 

Meanwhile,  the  embargo  caused  hardly  less  distress  at  home  ; 
and  the  outcry  from  sailors  out  of  work,  from  shippers  whose 
vessels  lay  idle,  and  from  farmers  whose  produce  rotted  un 
sold,  could  not  long  be  ignored  by  Congress.  In  New  Eng 
land,  juries  refused  to  convict  on  the  plainest .  evidence,  for 
violation  of  the  embargo,  and  public  opinion  made  it  impossible 
to  enforce  the  law.  In  the  closing  days  of  Jefferson's  presi 
dency  it  was  repealed,  as  a  failure.  Its  chief  result  had  been 
a  revival  of  the  Federalist  party  in  New  England. 

473.  Jefferson    had    wished    his    lieutenant,    Madison,   to 
succeed  him,  and  in  1808  Madison  was  elected  by  a  vote  of  three 


398  THE  WAR  OF   1812  [§  473 

to  one.  Backed  by  the  "Old  Republicans,"  he  tried  still  to 
preserve  peace  by  slight  modifications  of  Jefferson's  peace 
policy.  But  by  1810  real  control  had  passed  to  a  new  generation 
of  statesmen,  younger  and  more  aggressive,  led  by  Henry  Clay 
of  Kentucky  and  John  C.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina.  These 
"Young  Republicans,"  or  "War  Hawks,"  finally  brought 
Madison  to  their  side.1 

The  choice  of  a  foe  was  easily  foreseen.  So  far  as  interfer 
ence  with  our  commerce  was  concerned,  Napoleon  promised  to 
repeal  his  "  decrees  "  —  though  he  did  not,  and  did  not  mean  to 
—  while  England  refused  to  withdraw  her  "  orders  "  until  France 
should  actually  perform  the  promise.  But  against  England  a 
large  part  of  America  was  in  a  state  of  chronic  irritation  for  other 
reasons.  In  the  far  Northwest,  the  great  British  and  American 
fur  companies  were  fierce  and  ruthless  rivals  for  territory  and 
for  control  over  Indian  tribes.  .Rumors  of  bloody  clashes  and 
treacherous  massacres  among  distant  snows  stirred  every 
frontier  community  that  sent  forth  its  trappers  into  the  wilder 
ness,  and  the  Western  settlements  believed,  mistakenly  but 
with  savage  earnestness,  that  every  Indian  disturbance  was 
fomented  by  British  agents.  The  West,  accordingly,  joined 
hands  with  the  monied  fur-trade  interests  in  bringing  pressure 
upon  Congress.  And  in  June  of  1812  the  United  States  declared 
war  upon  England. 

For  three  generations  Americans  held  a  tradition  that  we  fought  the 
War  of  1812  in  defense  of  "  sailors'  rights  "  against  impressment.  This 
is  not  a  fair  statement.  Even  after  war  was  determined  upon,  during  the 
last  of  1811  and  the  first  half  of  1812,  neither  the  government  nor  news 
papers  mentioned  impressments  as  a  cause.  Madison's  message  to  Con 
gress  recommending  a  declaration  of  war  named  impressments  first 
among  our  provocations  ;  but  never  before  had  our  government  intimated 
to  England  that  she  must  give  up  this  practice  or  fight.2 

1  It  was  charged  that  Madison  yielded  to  secure  necessary  War  Hawk  sup 
port  for  his  reelection  in  1812.    Dislike  for  the  war  had  strengthened  the 
Federalists,  but  Madison  won  by  128  votes  (from  South  and  West)  to  89. 

2  For  examples  of  French  impressment  of  Americans,  see  Channing's  Jeffer- 
sonian  System,  187.    The  student  will  do  well  to  read  in  that  volume  pages 


$  475]  BANKRUPTCY  AND   DISASTER  399 

Says  Henry  Adams:  "  When  this  grievance  was  finally  taken  up,  it 
was  an  afterthought,  when  the  original  cause  failed  to  unite  and  arouse 
the  people.  If  England  had  yielded  to  our  commercial  demands,  nothing 
would  then  have  been  said  of  impressments.  .  .  .  This  worst  of  Ameri 
can  grievances  took  its  proper  place  as  a  political  maneuver." 

Curiously  enough,  just  before  our  declaration  of  war,  too 
close  for  the  fact  to  become  known  in  America,  England  did 
repeal  absolutely  all  her  objectionable  "  orders  "  against  our 
commerce.  An  Atlantic  cable  would  have  made  impossible 
this  blundering  into  war. 

474.  The  War  Hawks  expected  to  end  the  war  in  one  glori 
ous  campaign  of  conquest.     Said  Clay  in  Congress,  "  I  am  not 
for  stopping  at  Quebec,  but  I  would  take  the  whole  continent." 
But  the  country,  as  a  whole,  showed  amazing  indifference ;   and 
New  England,  in   particular,  persisted  in  looking  upon   the 
struggle  as  "Mr.   Madison's  war."      A  rich  nation   of  eight 
million  people  could  have  put  300,000  men  into  the  field  (at  the 
ratio  of  Northern  effort  in  1865)  ;  but  at  no  time  (not  even 
when  our  territory  was  invaded)  did  we  have  one  tenth  that 
force  for  effective  service,  and,  most  of  the  time,  the  numbers 
were  a  half  smaller  still,  —  spite  of  bounties  arid  other  lavish 
inducements  offered  by  the  government.* 

Even  more  discouraging  were  the  finances.  The  government 
imposed  an  excise  and  stamp  duty  (hateful  to  Republican  prin 
ciples)  and  direct  taxes ;  but  the  States  were  delinquent  in 
payment.  When  the  government  tried  to  borrow,  its  bonds 
had  to  be  sold  at  ruinous  discount.  During  the  three  years,  the 
debt  mounted  frightfully  ;  and,  toward  the  close,  the  treasury 
was  practically  bankrupt.  In  a  few  weeks  more,  this  condition 
alone  would  have  compelled  the  United  States  to  sue  for  peace. 

475.  In  the  first  campaigns,  the  militia  distrusted  its  inca 
pable  officers  and  behaved  badly  on  several  occasions.2     In  1814, 

184-188  ;   or,  for  the   full  treatment  of  impressments,  pages   184-194.    The 
Chesapeake-Leopard  affair  may  be  made  a  subject  for  special  report. 

1  An  excellent  statement  of  military  problems  is  given  in  Hinsdale's-Hbto  to 
Study  and  Teach  History,  246-247. 

2  For  an  instance,  see  McMaster,  IV,  12-20.    For  a  notable  exception  to  the 


400  THE  WAR  OF  1812  [§  475 

just  as  England,  freed  from  the  pressure  of  European  war,  pre 
pared  to  push  matters  in  America,  more  efficient  American 
officers  came  to  the  front,  and  we  regained  our  northern  frontier 
in  two  or  three  creditable  engagements,  like  the  Battle  of  the 
Thames  (October,  1813)  and  Lundy's  Lane  (July,  1814).  Then, 
in  1815,  after  peace  had  been  signed,  but  before  the  fact  was 
known  in  America,  Andrew  Jackson,  with  four  thousand  West 
ern  riflemen  (deadly  marksmen  all),  lying  behind  cotton  bales 
at  New  Orleans,  beat  off,  with  horrible  slaughter,  a  stubborn 
attack  of  five  thousand  splendid  but  poorly  handled  English 
veterans  from  Wellington's  army  in  Spain  that  had  victoriously 
withstood  Napoleon's  best  soldiers. 

On  sea,  America  did  win  renown.  True,  no  injury  to  Eng 
land's  power  was  inflicted.  England  had  a  thousand  warships, 
two  hundred  of  them  larger  than  any  one  of  our  seventeen 
vessels  ;  and,  before  the  end  of  the  war,  every  American  warship 
was  sunk  or  blocked  up  in  harbor.  But,  meantime,  in  numerous 
ship  duels  between  well-matched  antagonists,  the  Americans  had 
amazed  the  world  by  a  series  of  remarkable  victories,  and,  at 
last,  won  even  from  England  the  reluctant  admission  that,  ship 
for  ship  and  gun  for  gun,  we  outsailed  and  outfought  them  on 
their  chosen  element.  England  lost  only  thirteen  ships  ;  but 
her  mortification  was  wholesome,  and  there  was  less  talk  there 
after  of  Americans  as  "  degenerate  "  Englishmen. 

Moreover,  a  really  serious  injury  to  England's  remaining 
merchant  marine  was  inflicted  by  the  multitudes  of  American 
privateers,  which  snapped  up  ships  even  in  sight  of  the  English 
coast.  Shipping  insurance  in  England  rose  to  double  the  point 
ever  reached  before  in  all  her  wars. 

One  disgraceful  episode  of  the  war  calls  for  mention.  In  1813  an 
American  raid  burned  Toronto  (then  York),  the  capital  of  Lower  Canada. 
A  British  force  off  our  eastern  coast  retaliated  by  a  raid  against  our  Capital. 
Five  thousand  troops  marched  triumphantly  through  fifty  miles  of  well- 
general  run  of  American  reverses,  Perry's  splendidly  earned  victory  on  Lake 
Erie  in  1813  may  be  made  a  subject  for  special  report. 


§  476]  THE   PEACE   OF  GHENT  401 

populated  country,  drove  a  large  body  of  militia  before  them  in  shameful 
rout,  and  laid  the  public  buildings  of  Washington  in  ashes. 

A  few  days  later,  an  attack  upon  Baltimore  was  repulsed  by  the 
militia.  This  was  the  occasion  for  the  poem,  "The  Star-spangled 
Banner,"  by  Francis  Scott  Key,  a  prisoner  at  the  time  on  a  British  vessel 
in  view  of  the  attack. 

476.  In  the  negotiations  for  peace,  the  American  representa 
tives  (Gallatin,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Henry  Clay)  were 
as  superior  to  their  English  antagonists  as  the  English  army 
had  at  any  time  been  to  the  American.  In  this  field  the 
Americans  won  a  creditable  victory.  The  Peace  of  Ghent 
(December  14,  1814)  restored  our  old  boundaries.  It  left  all 
other  questions  unsettled ;  but  the  return  of  peace  in  Europe 
had  removed  the  occasion  of  trouble.  Until  the  European 
war  of  1914,  our  people  believed  that  no  country  —  in  peace 
or  war  —  would  again  dare  to  disregard  American  rights. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Dunning's  British  Empire  and  the  United 
States,  Fish's  American  Diplomacy,  Schurz's  Clay,  and  McMaster's 
History,  V,  give  details  for  the  peace  negotiations. 


CHAPTER   XLIII 
NEW  ENGLAND  AND  THE  UNION,   1800-1815 

New  England's  attitude  toward  the  Union  was  disgraceful  during  the 
whole  period  from  the  accession  of  Jefferson  to  the  end  of  the  War  of 
1812.  At  three  times,  in  particular,  leaders  or  people,  or  both,  seemed 
ready  for  nullification  or  secession. 

477.  In  1803-1804  the  leaders  of  New  England  Federalism 
were  angered  and  alarmed  by  the  Louisiana  Purchase  (which, 
they  thought,  meant  an  increase  in  the  political  power  of  the 
South),  and  the  Essex  Junto1  sought  refuge  in  plots  for  secession. 
Pickering,  formerly  Washington's  Secretary  of  War,  wrote, 
after  expressing  fear  of  Jefferson  (§  426) :  — 

"How  long  we  shall  enjoy  even  this  security,  God  only  knows;  and 
must  we  with  folded  hands  wait  the  result,  or  timely  think  of  other  pro 
tection.  .  .  .  The  principles  of  our  Revolution  point  to  the  remedy,  — 
a  separation.  That  this  can  be  accomplished,  and  without  spilling  one 
drop  of  blood,  I  have  little  doubt "  (Letter  to  Cabot,  January  29,  1804). 
And  again  :  "  If  a  separation  should  be  deemed  proper,  the  five  New  Eng 
land  States,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  would  naturally  be  united.  .  .  . 
I  do  not  know  one  reflecting  New  Englander  who  is  not  anxious  for  the 
Great  Event  at  which  I  have  glanced  "  (Letter  to  King,  March  4,  1804). 

John  Quincy  Adams  broke  with  the  Federalists  at  this  time, 
and  some  years  later  he  declared  in  much  detail  his  knowl 
edge  of  this  plot,  of  which  he  strongly  disapproved.  "  The 
plan  was  so  far  matured,"  says  Adams,  "  that  it  had  been  pro 
posed  to  an  individual  to  allow  himself,  when  the  time  was 
ripe,  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  military  movements." 
This  "  individual "  was  Hamilton,  whom  the  Junto  counted 
on  also  to  bring  New  York  into  the  treasonable  confederacy. 

1  Most  of  these  leaders  lived  in  Essex  County,  near  Boston. 
402 


§  478]  NEW  ENGLAND  AND  THE  UNION  403 

But  Hamilton  frowned  on  the  project,1  and  the  leaders 
found  little  support  at  this  time  in  their  own  State.  Thus 
this  "  first  Federalist  plot "  never  got  beyond  private  letters 
and  closet  conferences. 

478.  The  embargo  of  1807  prepared  the  mass  of  New 
England  people  for  desperate  measures;  and  the  years  1808- 
1809  saw  a  popular  movement  for  nullification.  December  27, 
1808,  a  Bath  town-meeting  called  on  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  "  to  take  immediate  steps  for  relieving  the  peo 
ple,  either  by  themselves  alone  or  in  concert  with  the  other 
commercial  States."  The  meeting  then  appointed  a  "  commit 
tee  of  safety  ...  to  correspond  .  .  .  and  give  immediate  alarm, 
so  that  a  regular  meeting  may  be  called  whenever  any  infringe 
ment  of  their  [Bath's^  rights  shall  be  committed  by  any  person 
or  j)ersons  under  color  and  pretence  of  authority  derived  from 
any  officer  of  the  United  States."  Other  towns  took  similar 
action,  and  the  movement  spread  to  State  governments.  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut  declared  the  Embargo  Act 
"  unconstitutional,  .  .  .  interfering  with  the  State  sovereignties, 
and  subversive  to  the  rights  ...  of  citizens."  He  refused 
the  request  of  the  Secretary  of  War  that  he  appoint  officers 
to  enforce  the  Act  in  his  State ;  and  in  his  address  to  the  Con 
necticut  legislature  (February  23,  1809)  he  placed  himself  on 
the  precise  ground  of  the  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  '99 :  — 

"Whenever  our  national  legislature  is  led  to  overleap  the  prescribed 
bounds  of  their  constitutional  powers,  on  the  State  legislatures,  in  great 
emergencies,  devolves  the  arduous  task,  —  it  is  their  right,  it  becomes 
their  duty, — to  interpose  their  protecting  shield  between  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people  and  the  assumed  power  of  the  General  government." 


1  Hamilton  agreed  that  the  "disease  of  democracy"  was  serious  enough; 
but  he  did  not  believe  that  disunion  would  afford  a  remedy.  He  seems  rather 
to  have  looked  forward  to  a  general  convulsion,  when  a  strong  aristocratic 
government  might  be  set  up  as  a  result  of  war.  There  is  reason  to  think  that 
he  accepted  Burr's  challenge  to  the  duel  in  which,  soon  after,  he  lost  his  life, 
only  because  he  felt  that  a  refusal  would  disqualify  him  for  high  military 
command  in  the  struggle  he  expected. 


404  THE   WAR   OF   1812  [§  479 

The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  acting  on  this  principle, 
prescribed  fine  and  imprisonment  for  officers  of  the  Union 
who  should  try  to  enforce  the  law  in  that  State.  Open  con 
flict  was  avoided,  and  this  "  second  series  of  plots  "  was  closed, 
only  when  the  Federal  government  surrendered  and  repealed 
the  Embargo. 

479.  The  third  distinct  period  of  New  England  opposition  was 
longer  and  more  serious.  It  ran  through  the  three  years  of 
foreign  war.  For  1812-1813,  a  few  details  must  suffice. 

(1)  By  unlawful  and  treasonable,  but  highly  profitable,  trade, 
New  England  merchants   and  farmers  fed   the  British  army 
in  Canada.1     At  one  time  the  British  commander  there  wrote 
to  his  home  government,  —  "Two  thirds  of  the  army  are  at 
Chis  moment  eating  beef  provided  by  American  contractors." 

(2)  New  England  Representatives  in    Congress,  with   the   full 
approval  of   their  constituents,  used  every  effort  to  defeat  the 
bills  to  fill  up-  the  ranks  of  the  depleted  army.     When  a  bill 
was  under  consideration   to  permit  minors  over  eighteen   to 
enlist,  Quincy  of  Massachusetts  exclaimed  :  — 

"It  must  never  be  forgotten  .  .  .  that  these  United  States  form  a 
political  association  of  independent  sovereignties.  .  .  .  Pass  this  bill, 
and  if  the  legislatures  of  the  injured  States  do  not  come  down  on  your 
recruiting  officers  with  the  old  laws  against  kidnapping  and  man  stealing, 
they  are  false  to  themselves  .  .  .  and  their  country. " 

(3)  The  militia  refused  to   obey  the  call  of  the  President.     In 
1812  Madison,  as  authorized  by  Congress,  called  on  the  State 
governors  to  order  out  the  militia  to  repel  expected  invasion 
of  their  own  coasts.     The  governor  of  Massachusetts  declared 
that  neither  invasion  nor   insurrection  existed  (Constitution, 
Art.  I,  sec.  8) ;  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  assured 
him   that  it  belonged  to  him,  rather  than  to  President  and 
Congress,  to  decide  whether  the  summons  was  constitutional. 
Vermont  then  recalled  her  militia  from  service. 

1  McMaster,  IV,  65-£6.    Cf.  §  216. 


§  481]  DISUNION  PLOTS  405 

480.  In  the  closing  year  of  the  war,  the  defeat  of  Napoleon 
freed  England's  hands  for  more  vigorous  action  against  Amer 
ica.     This  condition  encouraged  New  England  Federalists  to  enter 
on  a   definite   movement   for   secession.     The  first  step  was  to 
have  town  meetings  petition  the  Massachusetts  General  Court 
to  secure  a  separate  peace  for  that  State. 

As  early  as  June  29,  1812,  a  Gloucester  meeting  voted  :  "  If  a  destruc 
tion  of  our  commerce  and  fisheries  are  the  terms  on  which  a  confedera 
tion  of  the  States  (!)  is  to  be  supported,  the  Union  will  he  to  us  a  thread, 
and  the  sooner  it  is  severed,  the  better.  .  .  .  We  view  the  salvation  of 
our  country  as  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  commercial  States,  and  to  them 
we  pledge  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  everything  we  hold  dear  in  time." 
In  January,  1813,  an  Essex  county  address  to  the  Massachusetts  legisla 
ture  ran :  ' '  We  remember  the  resistance  of  our  fathers  to  oppressions 
which  dwindle  into  insignificance  compared  to  those  we  are  called  on  to 
endure  [at  the  hands  of  the  United  States  government,  this  means]  .  .  . 
and  we  pledge  to  you  .  .  .  our  lives  and  property  in  support  of  whatever 
measure  the  dignities  and  liberties  of  this  free,  sovereign,  and  independ 
ent  State  may  seem  to  your  wisdom  to  demand."  A  typical  address 
from  Amherst  in  January  of  1814  (Noah  Webster  presiding)  pledged  to 
the  Massachusetts  legislature  the  support  of  the  town  in  any  measures 
the  legislature  should  see  fit  to  adopt  to  restore  peace,  "  either  alone  or 
in  conjunction  with  neighboring  States." 

The  legislature  referred  such  addresses  to  a  special  commit 
tee.  This  committee  advised  a  convention  of  the  New  England 
States.  The  legislature,  however,  put  the  matter  over  to  the 
next  General  Court,  which  would  "  come  from  the  people  still 
more  fully  possessed  of  their  views  and  wishes."  This  "  refer 
endum  "  returned  a  legislature  strongly  committed  to  a  New 
England  convention. 

That  new  legislature  then  called  the  Hartford  Convention,  and 
appointed  delegates.  Connecticut  and  Khode  Island  joined 
the  movement,  and  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  were  repre 
sented  at  the  meeting  in  irregular  fashion,  by  delegates  chosen 
in  county  meetings. 

481.  Extreme  Federalist  leaders  made  no  secret  of  their  hope 
that  the  Convention  would  form  a  new  confederacy  of  northern 


406  THE   WAR   OF   1812  [§  482 

States.     Gouverneur  Morris  wrote  exultantly  to  a  member  of 
Congress :  — 

"I  care  nothing  more  for  your  actings  and  doings.  Your  decrees  of 
conscriptions  and  your  levy  of  contributions  are  alike  indifferent  to  one 
whose  eyes  are  fixed  on  a  star  in  the  East,  which  he  believes  to  be  the 
dayspring  of  freedom  and  glory.  The  '  traitors  and  madmen '  assembled 
at  Hartford  will,  I  believe,  if  not  too  tame  and  timid,  be  hailed  hereafter 
as  the  patriots  and  sages  of  their  day." 

Pickering,  with  equal  delight,  wrote,  "  I  do  not  expect  to  see 
a  single  representative  from  the  Eastern  States  in  the  next 
Congress " ;  and  he  advised  the  Massachusetts  government  to 
seize  the  Federal  custom-houses  and  revenues  within  her  borders 
at  once}  and  prepare  for  her  own  defense  against  either  England 
or  the  United  States.  The  Boston  Centinel  (September  12) 
announced  that  the  old  Union  was  practically  dissolved ;  and, 
November  9,  with  plain  reference  to  the  Boston  Chronicle's 
famous  illustration  of  1788  [page  309],  it  announced  that  the 
second  and  the  third  "  pillars  of  a  new  Federal  Edifice "  had 
been  reared,  —  referring  to  the  fact  that  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  had  followed  Massachusetts  in  choosing  dele 
gates  to  the  Hartford  Convention.1 

482.  The  Hartford  Convention  xmet  December  15,  1814,  and 
remained  in  session  one  month.  It  talked  State  sovereignty 
and  nullification.  It  blustered  and  threatened.  As  an  ulti 
matum,  it  demanded  amendments  to  the  Constitution  (which 
would  have  rendered  the  government  impotent  in  a  crisis) 
and  the  immediate  surrender  to  the  States  of  control  over  their 
own  troops  and  taxes  (which  would  have  been  a  virtual  disso 
lution  of  union).  All  its  words  and  acts  pointed  to  secession ; 
but  it  did  not  take  up  the  matter  of  actual  separation.  Instead, 
it  provided  for  a  new  convention,  to  be  held  a  little  later,  and 


1  January  15,  1815,  the  Boston  Gazette  advised  Madison  to  get  a  faster  horse 
than  he  had  when  he  lied  from  Washington  before  the  British  raid,  —  "  or  the 
swift  vengeance  of  New  England  will  overtake  the  wretched  miscreant  in  his 
flight." 


482] 


THE   HARTFORD  CONVENTION 


407 


SECON'D  1'iLLAR 

Of  a  ntv  FEDE  &AL  E  D I  PICE  reared. 
LEGISLATURE  Of  CC 


HERTFORD,  NOV.  7.  The  joint  Committee 
of  the  Legislature  of  this  State  to  whom  was 
referred  the  communication  from  the  Govern 
or  of  Massachusetts,,  have  reported  at  much 
length  and  with  great  ability  on  the  subjects 
connected  with  the  objects  of  their  mission. 
In  conclusion  the  Committee  say, 
_  "  In  what  manner  the  multif  liecl'evils  which  we 
eel  umlTear,  are  to  be  remedied,  is  a  questien  of  the 
highest  moment,  and-descrves  the  greatest  eonsida-a- 
tion.  Tl»e  documents  transmitted  by  His  Kxcel'eiwy 
the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  present,  in  the  opin 
ion  of  the  Committee,  an  el  gsble  method  of  combin 
ing  the  wisdom  of  Kev-Ef^haxI,  in  devi»infr,  on  full 
consultation,  a  proper  course  to  be  adopted,  consis 
tent  with  our  obligations  to  the  United  States." 

They  therefore  re,corrrmend,  that  Seven  Del 
egates  from  this  State  lie  appointed  to  meet 
the  Delegates  from  theCommonweaith  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  and  of  any  other  of  the  New-Eng 
land  States,  st  Hartford  on;  the  15th  Decem 
ber,  to  confer  with  them  on  the  subjects  pro 
posed  by  a  Resolution  of  said  Commonwealth, 
and  upon  any  other  subjects  which  may  come 
before  them,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  and 
recommending  such  measures  for  the  safety 
and  welfare  of  those  States,  as  may  consist 
with  otir  obligations  as  members  of  the  na 
tional  Union.  This  report  ha*  been  adopted  in 
both  Houses,  and  the  following  persons  have 
baen  appointed  Delegates  :  — 

Ills  Honor  CHAUXCEY  GOODIilGH, 

Hon.  JAMF.S  HILLHOUSB, 

Hon.  JOHX  TREADVVELL, 

Hon.  ZEPHAN1AH  SWIF1% 

Boa.  XATIf  AlHEL  SMITH, 

Hon.  CALVIN  GOD1>AIID, 

Uon.  ROGER  M    SHERMAN. 

THIRD  PILLAR  RAISED. 


,  KOV,  5.  Oa  Tuesday  th»  Le 
gislature  of  this  State  convened  in  this  town. 
His  Excellency  Governor  JOSE*  the  same  day 
sent  them  a  message,  containing  ?n  alile,  it> 
dependent  and  intelligent  devclopernent  of  the 
situation  of  the  National  and  State  affairs,  and 
communicated  to  them  thtf  important  Resolu 
tions  and  Communications  of  the  Governor  and 
Legislature  cf  Massachusetts,  on  the  so 


Centinc! 


Memoranda* 


HOin    OK  JBO/-O.V—  18U. 

MOSPAT,  JV*»f.  7,  ar.  boat  Hope,  fro-n  Th«n.usi.c,wn- 
Left  tin-re  on  Saturday  last,  an<i  spoke,  in  the  rivtr 
the  EujjlUb  sU.op  which  h«d  ix-jrn  <::.mcd  into  Cam' 
di'n,  fr'im  whci,c^  xhc  hud  mu<!e  her  e«c-;>i-  in  -lie 
r.isfht,  while  ihe  Rrit"n,h  sqnatln.n  w;,«  btt-)»c  the 
pl»ce.  The  Hope  HUW  ili«  Atixm  U'h  Km«j'B  sell.  MS 
she  came  between  Franklin  and  G.-orjf's  Island  _ 
Monday  furc-ntxin,  saw  a  small  privatt-c:-  Vli.  close  un 
der  Baker's  Island,  standing  oiF  ;  siif.f>fisi-ii  (o  U  ilie 
Lunenburs^.  Wlien  tbe  Hope  Irft  Tin.Tna»tux\ii,  IiC 
militia  were  flocking-  to  Camdtn  from  *!i  quaiten 

7th,  ar.  (>x>  low),  a|,,op  l>«Hy,  fie\er,  from  \Vuido- 
boro',  with  wood.  O.i  .Sunday  eveninpr,  off  Cape-Ann, 
blowing  fresh  and  stormy,  was  hailed  from  a  «,!rit,n, 
the  people  on  boa?d  of  which  said  they  didnr.t  kn.,\v 
where  tli*y  were,  being  strangers,  and  requested  a 
pilot  to  uavijrate  her  in.  She  proved  to  be  the  Jefiftu-. 
>on  packet,  (Ute  Porsythe)  of  and  from  Hi-r,vu!*r.ce 
for  N«  York,  cargo  salt,  in  possession  of  5  E%l;,.'i. 
men,  hairing  be^n  euptured  on  Tuesday  last,  oil'  Pi. 
Judith,  by  the  Minerva  privateer,  »nd  ordered  for 
HalirkS.  Capt.  Gtyer  was  requested  to  uke  charge 
of  the  vessel,  and  get  her  into  the  first  port,  and  lie 
accordingly  brought  her  in  here,  together  with  the 
prize-crew.  On  the  arrival  cf  tbe  two.  vessels  in  tL$ 
harbour,  the  Englishmen  took  to  their  boat,  and  wcn^ 
ashore  on  one  of  tbe  islands. 

Capt.  Sawyer,  from  Portland,  saw  a  small  English 
privateer,  with  two  £afF-topsa:ls,  at  an  anchor  under 
Haiibut  Point,  (Cape-Ann,)  on  Saturday  afternoon 
last,  and  two  ships  standing  in  from  tbe  E.  Tbe  pri- 
vateer  imrticdiately  got  under  way,  and  gave  chase  to 
them,  b^t  losing  ground,  she  bore  away  in  chase  of  a 
sen. 

Brig  Rachel,  Patterson,  from  Portland  for  V,'2- 
mington,N.  C.orgo  salt,  was  captured  on-  the  4:h 
inst.  by  the  Cr.  privateer  Rov#r,  and  ordered  for 
Liverpool,  If.  S.'  She  sailsd  from  P.  the  evening  pre 
vious,  and  belonged  to  Wiijrtington.  The  crew  were 
landed  at  Sandy  B*y  on  Friday  evening,,  in  the  tish- 
i  ing-boat  Traveller. 

Prii-ateer  MAMMOfn'a  Cruize. 

Portland,  A'ov.  7-     On  Monday  arrived  privateer 

Mammoth,  C»pt.  Franklin,  from  a  cvuiz  .-.     Ue;-iai-i 

speaking  and  twirding  a  number  of  Russun,  French, 

-  Swedish  and  Portuguese  vessels,  she  m^iie  the  fol 

lowing  Britt*!i  prizes  :—  June  26,  1814,  si  .op  Far- 
mar,  a  recapture.  July  17,  briff  llritaunia,  with  lnro- 

'ber,  See.  burnt  her.  20ih,  scb'r  Urothers,  with  fch, 
put  prisoners  /an  board  her,  and  ordered  her  to  St. 
JoKns.  24th,  brig  Urania  *nd  brig  A»n-Bliza,  both 
in  ballast,  and  burnt  them.  25th,  brig  Eliza,  in  bal 
last,  gave  h<T  up  to  the  prisoners.  25ih,  bri<  .V.n.s- 
ley,  lumber,  &c.  scuttled  her.  27th,  sch'r  Good  jn- 

jtf'nt,  fish,  guve  her  up  to  prisoners.      Aug.  2d,  bri? 
Sarah,*  flour,  took  out  60  bbls.  and  -burnt  hai\     3d, 
'  '  xa.nd.eri  from  W.  I.  for  Eng!»nd,  sugar,  rum, 


bjsct|  brie  Ale 


PHOTOGRAPHIC  REPRODUCTION  OF  PARTS  OF  Two  COLUMNS  OF  THE 
Boston  Centinel  FOR  NOVEMBER  9,  1814. 


408  THE  WAR   OF   1812  [§  483 

adjourned  to  give  time  for  the  New  England  States  to  negotiate 
further  with  the  government  at  Washington. 

483.  Then  the  unexpected  announcement  of  peace  brought  the 
whole  movement  to  an  ignominious  collapse.  The  new  spirit  of 
nationalism,  which  at  once  swept  over  the  country,  buried 
the  Federalist  party  and  drove  the  old  New  England  leaders 
from  public  life.  The  rest  of  their  years  they  spent  in  ex 
plaining  to  an  indifferent  world  that  they  had  not  meant 
anything  anyway.  The  peculiar  meanness  of  their  disunion 
movement  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  was  a  stab  in  the  back  to  the 
Nation  already  engaged  in  desperate  foreign  war. 

'  FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Babcock's  Rise  of  American  Nationality 
(opening  chapters)  has  a  good  brief  account  of  the  New  England  Dis 
union  movements.  An  admirable  summary  may  be  found  in  Roosevelt's 
Gouverneur  Morris,  352-361. 


PART  VIII 

A  NEW  AMEKIOANISM,  1815-1830 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

A  THIRD  "  WEST  " 

484.  The  war  originated  in  blunder.     It  cost  two  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  and  thirty  thousand  lives  —  besides  the  in 
calculable  waste  and  agony  that  go  with  war.     It  was  con 
ducted  discreditably.     And  it  was  ended  without  mention  of 
the  questions  that  caused  it.     Still  it  did  give  a  new  impulse  to 
Nationality  and  to  Americanism. 

Por  a  while  there  had  seemed  serious  danger  that  our  fron 
tiers  might  be  curtailed.  All  the  more  buoyantly  the  spirits  of 
the  people  rebounded  into  extravagant  self-confidence  at  the 
"boast,  —  "  Not  an  inch  of  territory  ceded  or  lost.  "  The  popular 
imagination  forgot  shames  and  failures,  and  found  material  for 
self-glorification  even  in  the  campaigns.  Once  more  we  had 
"  whipped  England." 

In  the  years  that  followed,  this  exuberant  Americanism  was 
a  mighty  factor  in  the  eager  occupation  of  our  wild  territory  ; 
in  attempts  to  extend  that  territory  ;  and  in  warning  Europe 
to  keep  hands  off  this  hemisphere. 

485.  The  years  just  after  the  war  saw  the  "West"  made  over  and 
greatly  extended.  (1)   War-  wearied  Europe  poured  emigrants  upon  our 
shores  as  never  before,  and  our  own  people  sought  eagerly  a  refuge  in  the  farm 
lands  of  the  West  and  "Lower  South"  from  the  demoralized  industries 
of  the  older  sections  (§486).  (2)  These  new  homeseekers  found  homes 
readily,  because  the  war  extinguished  Indian  title  to  vast  tracts  never  before 
open  to  settlement  (§  488),  and  because  the  government  now  adopted  a  land 

409 


410  A  NEW  WEST,    1815-1830  [§  486 

policy  more  liberal  even  than  that  of  1800  (§  489).  And  (3)  there  ap 
peared  new  facilities  for  transporting the  new  home  seekers  to  the  land  of 
new  homes  —  in  an  advance  in  steam  navigation  and  in  a  new  era  of  road 
building  (§490ff.). 

486.  Immigration  from  Europe  had  been  fairly  uniform  from 
the  Revolution  to  the  War  of  1812,  —  some/owr  or  Jive  thousand 
a  year.     In  1817  the  number  of  immigrants  rose  at  a  bound  to 
22,000  ;  and  the  fifteen  years,  1 816-1830,  brought  us  a  half -million,1 
—  mainly  from  Ireland,  England,  and  Germany.     Most  of  these 
newcomers  found  their  way  at  once  to  new  lands  in  the  West. 

487.  This  westward  stream  was  tremendously  augmented  by  the 
general  demoralization  of  industry  in  the  Atlantic  districts.     Re 
turn  of  peace  in  Europe  put  an  end  to  New  England's  monopoly 
of  the  world's  carrying  trade.     At  the  same  time  the  new  man 
ufactures,  which  had  been  built  up  while  the  war  shut  out 
English  goods,  were  exposed  to  ruinous  foreign  competition. 
In  the  South,   the  great  planters  had  been  declining  in  wealth 
for  a  generation ;  and  the  six  years  of  embargo  and  war,  with 
no  market  for  tobacco  or  cotton,  had  hastened  their  ruin.2 

"  Bad  times  "  always  turn  attention  to  Western  farms  ;  and 
whole  populations  in  seaboard  districts  were  seized  now  with 
"  the  Ohio  fever."  "  Old  America  seems  to  be  breaking  up  and 
moving  westward, "  wrote  Morris  Birkbeck 3  in  1817,  while 
journeying  on  the  National  Road.  "  We  are  seldom  out  of  sight, 
as  we  travel  this  grand  track  toward  the  Ohio,  of  family  groups 
behind  or  before  us.  " 

488.  The  Indian  campaigns,  in  the  long  run,  proved  the  most  im 
portant  part  of  the  War  of  1812.     Just  before  war  with  England 
began,  Tecumthe,  a  notable  organizer  and  patriot,  united  all  the 

1  The  next  sixteen  years  brought  twice  as  many ;  and  then  the  Irish  famine 
(Modern  World,  §  766)  sent  us  a  million  from  Ireland  alone  in  four  years. 

2  Jefferson  and  Monroe  were  almost  in  a  state  of  poverty  before  their  death, 
and  Madison's  fortune  was  seriously  reduced.    Professor  Dodd  asserts  (Expan 
sion  and  Conflict,  13)  that  Jefferson's  home,  Monticello,  with  200  acres  of  land, 
sold  for  $  2500,  in  1829. 

8  A  European  observer,  himself  seeking  a  home  in  the  West.  A  graphic  ac 
count  of  the  westward  movement  is  given  in  McMaster,  I,  381  ff . 


§  489]     NEW  HOMESEEKERS  AND  NEW  HOMES        411 

tribes  of  the  West  into  a  formidable  confederacy  to  resist  White 
advance.  General  Harrison  attacked  and  defeated  Tecumthe's 
forces  at  Tippecanoe,  a  tributary  of  the  Wabash  River  (Novem 
ber,  1811),  while  that  chieftain  was  absent  among  the  Southern 
Indians.  In  1812  the  struggle  merged  in  the  larger  war.  The 
Battle  of  the  Tliames  (§  475)  takes  its  chief  importance  from  the 
death  there  of  Tecumthe  ;  and  the  Battle  of  Horseshoe  Bend  (in 
the  winter  of  1814),  where  Andrew  Jackson  crushed  the  Southern 


MONTICELLO,  the  home  of  Thomas  Jefferson.    From  a  photograph. 

Indians,  meant  far  more  for  American  development  than  the 
victory  at  New  Orleans.  When  conflict  was  over,  treaties 
with  the  conquered  Indians  opened  to  White  settlement  much 
of  Georgia,  most  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  all  of  Missouri, 
and  half  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan. 

489.  The  credit  system  of  land  sales  (§  458)  had  not  worked 
well.  Optimistic  pioneers  bought  large  amounts  of  land  with 
all  their  ready  cash,  and  found  themselves  unable  to  make 
the  later  payments.  In  1820  Congress  abolished  the  plan,  but 


412 


A  NEW  WEST,    1815-1830 


[§  489 


CESSIONS  OF  IOIAN  LAOS 

1816-1830 


Ceded  prior  to  I8i6 
Ceded  /S/6-/S30 
Unceded  iS30 


Of  the  land  ceded  from  iste-isso  it  was  claimed  that  some  portions 
had  been  partially  ceded  by  earlier  treaties 


THIS  MAP,  WITH  PERMISSION,  is  SLIGHTLY  SIMPLIFIED  FROM  THAT  OF 
DR.  FREDERICK  J.  TURNER  IN  HIS  "NEW  WEST." 


490] 


NEW  ROADS  TO  THE  WEST 


413 


began  to  offer  80-acre  lots  at  $1.25  an  acre.  One  hundred  dollars 
would  now  secure  full  title  to  a  farm.  Settlers  who  had  pre 
viously  made  some  payments  on  the  credit  plan  were  given  full 
title  to  as  many  acres  as  they  had  paid  for  at  this  new  rate. 

490.  In  1811  the  steamboat  Orleans  was  launched  on  the  Ohio 
at  Pittsburg ;  and  after  the  war,  steam  navigation  quickly  be 
came  the  chief  means  of  travel  in  the  West.  In  1818,  Walk-in- 
tlie-Water  was  launched  on  Lake  Erie.  Two  years  later,  sixty 
steamers  plied  on  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi, 
and  others  were  find 
ing  their  way  up  the 
muddy  waters  of  the 
Missouri,  between 
herds  of  grazing 
buffalo.  It  now  took 
only  five  days  to  go 
from  St.  Louis  to 
New  Orleans,  and 
two  weeks  to  return. 

A  steamboat  could  be  built  anywhere  on  the  banks  of  a  river, 
out  of  timber  sawed  on  the  spot.  At  first,  engine  and  boilers 
had  to  be  transported  from  the  East ;  but  soon  they  began  to  be 
manufactured  at  Pittsburg,  whence  they  could  be  shipped  by 
water.  The  woods  on  the  banks  supplied  fuel. 

Some  of  the  vessels  were  "  floating  palaces  "  for  that  day,  — 
"  fairy  structures  of  Oriental  gorgeousness  and  splendor," 
exclaims  one  exultant  Westerner,  — 

"rushing  down  the  Mississippi  as  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  or  plowing  up 
between  the  forests  and  walking  against  the  mighty  current  as  things  of 
life ;  bearing  speculators,  merchants,  dandies,  fine  ladies  .  .  .  with 
pianos,  novels,  cards,  dice,  and  flirting,  and  love  making,  and  drinking ; 
and,  on  the  deck,  three  hundred  fellows,  perhaps,  who  have  seen  alligators 
and  fear  neither  gunpowder  nor  whisky." 

The  flatboats  and  rafts  (§  305)  still  swarmed  out  upon  the 
great  rivers  from  every  tributary,  and  made  a  somber  contrast 


FuLTON>s  FEBRY  BoAT>  The  UniGn>  built  in 
1836.  From  a  print  of  1859.  Compare  with 
The  Clermont  on  page  384.  For  the  full  sig- 

nificance  of  the  name  in  1836'  see 


414 


A  NEW  WEST,    1815-1830 


[§49! 


to  this  picture.  A  flatboat  was  manned  by  a  crew  of  six  to 
twelve  men.  A  journey  from  Louisville  to  New  Orleans  took 
six  months.  Many  boats  did  not  go  so  far.  Whenever  the 
cargo  was  sold  out,  the  boat  itself  was  broken  up  and  sold  for 
lumber ;  and  the  crew  returned  home  by  steamer  —  instead  of 
on  foot  as  in  1800.  In  1830  a  traveler  on  the  Mississippi  saw 
ten  or  twelve  such  boats  at  every  village  he  passed.  Flatboat- 
men,  raftsmen,  and  the  deckhands  of  the  great  steamers  made, 
as  Dr.  Turner  says,  "a  turbulent  and  reckless  population, 
living  on  the  country  through  which  they  passed,  fighting  and 
drinking  in  true  '  half-horse,  half-alligator '  style." 

491.  Only  twenty  miles  of  the  National  Road  (§455)  were 
completed  at  the  close  of  the  war ;  but  in  1816  it  received  an 
appropriation  of  $300,000,  followed  by  others  as  fast  as  they 


effersoiT- 


THE  NATIONAL  ROAD. 

could  be  used.  By  1820,  with  a  cost  of  a  million  and  a  half, 
it  reached  Wheeling,  on  the  upper  Ohio  waters.  Thence,  at  a 
total  cost  of  nearly  seven  millions  (carried  by  thirty-four 
appropriations  from  Congress),  it  was  pushed  on  to  Columbus, 
Indianapolis,  and  finally  to  Vandalia  (then  capital  of  Illinois). 
From  the  lower  waters  of  the  Potomac  almost  to  the  Missis 
sippi,  crossing  six  States,  this  noble  highway  with  its  white 
milestones  spanned  the  continent  in  a  long  band,  bridging 
streams  on  magnificent  stone  arches,  and  cutting  through  lines 
of  hills  on  easy  grades.  The  eastern  part  was  formed  of 
crushed  stone  on  a  thoroughly  prepared  foundation ;  the  west 
ern  portion  was  more  roughly  macadamized.  In  1856  (after 
railroads  had  superseded  such  means  of  transit  in  importance) 


§  492]     INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS  AND  VETOES     415 

Congress  turned  the  road  over  to  the  various  States  in  which 
it  lay. 

The  cost  of  the  road  —  even  the  early  cost  of  that  part  east  of  Ohio — 
far  exceeded  the  original  "  five  per  cent  fund,"  from  Ohio  lands.  The 
road  was  a  true  national  undertaking,  paid  for  by  national  revenues.  The 
fiction  of  merely  "  advancing  funds  "  was  long  kept  up,  however,  to  dodge 
constitutional  objections ;  and  the  consent  of  each  State  through  which 
the  road  passed,  was  asked  and  obtained. 

492.  For  a  time  it  was  expected  that  the  government  would 
build  other  great  lines  of  communication.  It  had  felt  keenly  the 
military  need  of  good  roads  during  the  war  —  when  at  critical 
times  it  had  been  almost  unable  to  move  troops  or  supplies. 
The  Westerners,  too,  were  clamoring  for  more  national  aid,  and 
their  votes  in  Congress  were  gaining  weight.  Moreover,  at 
the  peace  (with  the  renewal  of  the  import  trade)  the  national 
revenues  became  abundant.  In  1815  they  rose  at  a  bound 
from  11  to  47  millions  of  dollars.  Madispn's  administration 
now  abandoned  the  old  Jeffersonian  policy  of  keeping  down 
the  army  and  navy,  and  raised  its  estimate  of  annual  expendi 
ture  to  27  millions ;  but,  even  so,  a  large  surplus  was  piling  up 
in  the  treasury. 

The  Message  to  Congress  in  December,  1816,  renewed  Jeffer 
son's  suggestion  for  a  constitutional  amendment  to  permit  the 
use  of  this  surplus  in  a  "  comprehensive  system  of  roads  and 
canals  .  .  .  such  as  will  have  the  effect  of  drawing  more  closely 
together  every  part  of  our  country"  and  of  increasing  "the  share 
of  every  part  in  the  common  stock  of  national  prosperity." 
Congress  ignored  the  suggestion  for  amendment,  but  provided 
funds  for  immediate  use.  An  act  for  a  new  National  Bank1 
gave  the  government  a  "  bonus "  of  $1,500,000  (for  the 
special  privileges  of  the  charter),  besides  certain  shares  in  future 

iThe  charter  of  the  First  Bank  expired  in  1811,  and  Republican  opposition 
had  prevented  a  renewal  at  that  time.  But,  in  1816,  the  new  Nationalism  dis 
regarded  former  scruples.  The  bill,  championed  especially  by  Calhoun  and 
Clay,  received  almost  a  solid  vote,  and  was  approved  by  Madison. 


416 


THE  NEW  WEST,    1815-1830 


[§492 


dividends ;  and  now  Calhoun's  "  Bonus  Bill "  pledged  these  funds 
to  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals. 

Calhoun  urged  his  bill  on  broad  grounds,  finding  sanction  for  it  even  in 
the  "general  welfare"  clause.  "Let  it  never  be  forgotten,"  he  ex 
claimed,  u  that  [the  extent  of  our  republic]  exposes  us  to  the  greatest  of  all 
calamities,  next  to  the  loss  of  liberty  itself  (and  even  to  that,  in  its  conse 
quences),  —  disunion.  We  are  greatly  and  rapidly  —  I  was  about  to  say, 
fearfully  —  growing.  This  is  our  pride  and  our  danger  ;  our  weakness 

and  our  strength.  .  .  .  We  are 
under  the  most  imperious  ob 
ligation  to  counteract  every 
tendency  to  disunion.  ...  If 
we  permit  a  low,  sordid,  selfish 
sectional  spirit  to  take  posses 
sion  of  this  House,  this  happy 
scene  will  vanish.  We  will 
divide  ;  and,  in  consequence, 
will  follow  misery  and  despo 
tism.  Let  us  conquer  space. . . . 
The  mails  and  the  press  are  the 
nerves  of  the  body  politic." 

To    the    savage    disap 
pointment  of  the  Young 
Kepublicans,    Madlisoii 
JOHN  C.  CALHOUN,  as  a  young  man.    From     vetoed  the  bill  in  .a  mes- 
a  portrait  in  a  painting  of  several  full-     sage  tnat  returned  to  the 


length  figures,  by  C.  P.  A.  Healy,  in  the 


Jeffersonian    doctrine    of 


chapel  of  Clemson  College,  South  Caro 
lina,  strict    construction.      He 

expressed  sympathy  with 

the  purpose  of  the   act,   but   insisted   that  a   Constitutional 
amendment  must  be  secured. 

The  next  year,  under  President  Monroe,  Congress  renewed  its 
effort  for  national  aid  to  roads.  But  Monroe,  in  his  inaugural  and 
in  his  one  veto,  took  Madison's  ground.  The  enraged  Congress 
retorted  with  bitter  resolutions  condemning  the  President's 
position,  but  it  did  not  venture  to  challenge  more  vetoes 
or  to  make  trial  of  the  dubious  process  of  Constitutional 
amendment. 


§  494]  AND  THE   LOWER  SOUTH  417 

493.  For  a  time,  therefore,  the  routes  from  the  seaboard  to 
the  West  were  the  National  E/oad  and  the  Ohio.1     But  soon  two 
other  routes  were  added. 

a.  Planters  abandoned  the  "  worn-out "  tobacco  lands  of  Vir 
ginia  and  North  Carolina  for  the  "  cotton  belt/7  —  a  broad  sweep 
of  black  alluvial  soil 2  running  through  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  between  the  coast  and  the  pine  barrens 
of  the  foothills.     To  even  the  distant  parts  of  this  region  they 
found  access  by  land,  through  central  Georgia,  with  their  cara 
vans  of  slaves  and  goods. 

Dr.  Turner  suggests  graphically  the  contrast  between  the 
migration  into  Northwest  and  Southwest :  here,  the  pioneer 
farmer,  bearing  family  and  household  goods  in  a  canvas-covered 
wagon;  there,  the  aristocratic,  gloved  planter,  in  family  car 
riage,  attended  by  servants,  packs  of  hunting  dogs,  and  train  of 
slaves,  their  nightly  camp  fires  lighting  up  the  wilderness. 

Thus  the  Lower  South  came  into  being.  Until  the  discovery  of 
California  gold,  no  other  part  of  America  offered  men  of  small 
capital  such  chances  of  sudden  wealth.  The  new  aristocracy  of 
the  black  belt  soon  took  to  itself  the  leadership  in  Southern  politics 
so  long  held  by  Virginia. 

b.  Each  year  the  Wilderness  Road  (now  improved  into  a 
wagon  track)  bore  a  large  immigration  from  Virginia  into  Ken 
tucky.     Part  of  this  colonization  passed  on  across  the  lower 
Ohio  into  southern  Indiana  and  Illinois,  or  across  the  Missis 
sippi  into  Missouri.     Another  part  moved  through  Tennessee 
down  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  cotton  belt,  to  meet  the 
stream  of  immigration  there  from  the  East. 

494.  This  double  movement  through  Kentucky  (as  Dr.  Turner 
reminds  us),  with  many  other  features  of  Western  life,  is  illus 
trated  by  the  families  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Jefferson  Davis. 
The  two  boys  were  born  near  one  another  in  Kentucky  in  1809 

1  That  river  was  reached  from  the  East  either  by  the  National  Road  to 
Wheeling  or  by  the  Pennsylvania  turnpike  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg. 

2 The  name  "black  belt,"  applied  to  this  district,  refers  sometimes  to  the 
soil,  but  more  especially  to  the  concentration  of  Negro  population  there. 


418 


THE  NEW  WEST,   1815-1830 


[§  494 


and  1808.  The  Davis  family  soon  moved  on  to  Louisiana  and 
then  to  Mississippi,  had  its  part  under  Jackson  in  the  War  of 
1812,  and  became  typical  planters  of  the  black  belt.  In  1810 


Center  of  Population 
Under  2  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile 
From  2  to  18          "    "    "        "          " 
"    18  to  over  90  "   °    "        "         " 


Thomas  Lincoln,  a  rather  shiftless  carpenter,  rafted  his  family 
across  the  Ohio,  with  his  kit  of  tools  and  several  hundred  gal 
lons  of  whisky,  to  settle  in  southern  Indiana.  For  a  year  the 


495] 


AND  THE   LOWER  SOUTH 


419 


family  shelter  was  a  "  three-faced  camp  "  (a  shed  of  poles  open 
on  one  side  except  for  hanging  skins  or  canvas)  ;  and  for  some 
years  more  the  home  was  a  one-room  log  cabin  without  floor  or 
window.  As  in  most  houses  of  the  kind,  the  floor,  when  it  came, 
was  made  of  logs  split  in  halves  and  laid  with  backs  down. 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  raw-boned  youth  of  six  feet 
four,  with  blue  shinbones  showing  between  the  tops  of  his  socks 
and  the  bottom  of  his 
trousers,  the  family 
removed  again,  to 
Illinois.  Abraham, 
now  twenty-one,  after 
clearing  a  piece  of 
land  for  his  father, 
set  up  for  himself. 
He  had  had  very  few 
weeks  of  schooling ; 
but  he  had  been  fond 
of  practicing  himself 
in  speaking  and  writ 
ing  clearly  and  force 
fully,  and  he  knew  well  five  or  six  good  books  —  the  only 
books  of  any  sort  that  had  chanced  in  his  way.  After  this 
date,  he  walked  six  miles  and  back  one  evening  to  borrow  an 
English  grammar,  and  was  overjoyed  at  finding  it.  He  was 
scrupulously  honest  and  fair  in  all  dealings,  and  intellectually 
honest  with  himself,  —  and  champion  wrestler  among  the 
neighborhood  bullies.  He  made  a  flatboat  voyage  to  New 
Orleans ;  clerked  in  a  country  store,  where  he  was  the  best 
story-teller  among  the  loose-mouthed  loafers  who  gathered 
there ;  studied  law,  and  went  into  politics,  —  finally  to  meet 
his  childhood  neighbor,  Jefferson  Davis,  in  new  relations. 

495.  Shortly  before  1830,  a  yet  more  important  road  was 
opened  to  the  West.  Thinkers  had  long  seen  the  possibility 
of  water  communication  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Lakes, 
by  way  of  the  Hudson  and  a  canal  along  the  Mohawk  valley. 


THE  BIRTHPLACE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  at 
Hodgeuville,  recently  enshrined  within  a  mag 
nificent  granite  memorial  building  erected  by 
contributions  of  rich  and  poor  in  North  and 
South. 


420  ROADS   TO   THE   WEST,    1815-1830  [§  496 

Gallatin's  plan  of  1808  (§  456)  included  such  a  canal  at  national 
expense ;  and  in  1816  and  1817  the  Congressional  plans  for  in 
ternal  improvements,  with  this  as  one  object,  failed  only  because 
of  Madison's  and  Monroe's  unexpected  vetoes.  But  national 
aid  had  proved  a  delusion ;  and  now  De  Witt  Clinton,  governor 
of  New  York,  persuaded  the  State  to  take  up  the  work.  In  1825, 
after  eight  years  of  splendid  effort,  the  Erie  canal  was  completed, 
—  300  miles  in  length  from  Albany  to  Lake  Erie. 

DeWitt  Clinton  had  been  jeered  as  a  dreamer  of  dreams ; 
and,  in  truth,  the  engineering  difficulties  for  that  day,  and  the 
cost  for  the  State,  meant  more  effort  than  does  the  Panama 
Canal  to  the  United  States  to-day.  The  ditch  was  forty  feet 
wide.  It  had  eighty-one  locks,  to  overcome  a  grade  of  seven 
hundred  feet.  Before  the  end,  the  cost  of  seven  millions  ap 
palled  the  most  enthusiastic  champions  of  the  scheme  ;  but  cost 
and  upkeep  were  more  than  met  from  the  first  by  the  tolls 
(half  a  million  dollars  the  first  year,  and  twice  that  annually 
before  1830),  while  the  added  prosperity  to  the  State  outran 
even  Clinton's  hope.  Little  Buffalo  became  the  main  station 
for  the  vast  fur  trade  that  previously  had  gone  to  Europe  by 
way  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Farm  produce  in  the  western 
counties  doubled  in  value ;  land  trebled ;  freight  from  New 
York  to  Buffalo  fell  from  $120  to  $20  a  ton,  and  in  a  few 
years,  to  $6.  In  one  year  the  20  vessels  on  Lake  Erie  became 
218.  The  forests  of  the  western  part  of  the  State  were  con 
verted  inj;o  lumber,  staves,  and  pearl-ash,  and  their  place  was 
taken  by  farms  and  thriving  villages.  New  York  City,  the 
port  for  all  the  Lake  district,  doubled  its  population  between 
1820  and  1830,  taking  Philadelphia's  place  as  the  leading 
American  city  and  securing  more  than  half  the  total  import 
trade  of  the  United  States. 

496.  Pennsylvania  now  found  that  her  recent  expense  for  good 
roads  by  land  counted  for  little  against  New  York's  water  com 
munication  with  the  West,  and  in  1826  she  began  her  own 
system  of  canals  from  the  Susquehanna  to  Pittsburg.  This 
doubled  the  value  of  farm  produce  in  the  eastern  Ohio  valley. 


§  499]  THE  ERIE  CANAL  421 

From  the  great  highways,  too,  cheap  but  helpful  "State  roads"  and 
private  turnpikes  began  to  radiate  in  other  parts  of  the  West.  Ohio  and 
Illinois  lacked  stone  for  road  building,  but  they  invented  a  "plank  road" 
—  long  a  favorite  in  those  States.  The  trees  along  the  "right  of  way" 
furnished  heavy  hewn  planks,  which  were  laid  side  by  side  on  a  prepared 
level  surface  of  earth. 

497.  The  success  of  the  Erie  and  Pennsylvania  canals  over- 
stimulated  canal  building.     In  particular,  the  new  States  entered 
upon  an  orgy  of  building  far  beyond  their  means.     Between  1825 
and  1840  nearly  five  thousand  miles  of  costly  canals  were  con 
structed  in  America,  —  of  which  four  fifths  were  either  needless 
or  were  replaced  soon  by  the  railroad. 

498.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  "  New  West "  through  the  period 
1815-1830  had  never  had  a  parallel  in  human  history.     Between 
the  admission  of  Ohio  and  that  of  Louisiana  there  had  been  an 
interval  of  ten  years  (1802-1811).     Now  in  six  years  six  States 
came  in  :    Indiana,  in  1816  ;  Mississippi,  1817  ;  Illinois,  1818  ; 
Alabama,  1819  ;  Maine,  1820  ;  and  Missouri,  1821.     During  the 
next  decade  the  Western  States  grew  at  the  rate  of  from  a  hun 
dred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent,  while  Massachusetts  and 
Virginia  remained  almost  stationary.     Ohio  in  1830  had  a  mil 
lion  people,  —  more  than  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  to 
gether.     The  center  of  population  in  1830  was  125  miles  west 
of  Baltimore  (§  433)  ;  and  the  Mississippi  valley  contained  more 
than  three  and  a  half  millions  of  our  total  population  of  thir 
teen  millions,  while  a  million  more,  in  the  back  districts  of  the 
older  States,  really  belonged  to  this  Western  movement.     Since 
1800,  the  West  had  grown  from  a  tenth  to  a  third  of  the  nation. 
New  England's  total  population  was  only  two  million,  and  she 
had  gained  only  half  a  million  in  the  last  decade  (even  includ 
ing  the  growing  "  frontier  "  State  of  Maine),  while  the  Missis 
sippi  valley  States  had  gained  a  million  and  a  half.     Indiana  in 
the  decade  from  1810  to  1820  grew  from  24,000  to  147,000 ! 

499.  Throughout  the  period,  Virginia  held  first  place  as  mother 
State  for  the  new  commonwealths  both  north  and  south  of  the  Ohio.1 

*Dr.  Turner  (The  New  West)  has  some  interesting  figures  to  show  the 
preponderance  of  Southern  immigration.  Of  the  Illinois  legislature  in  1833,  he 


422  THE  NEW  WEST,   1815-1830  [§  500 

Her  first  emigration  to  the  Lower  South,  like  that  into  Kentucky 
in  Revolutionary  days,  went  mainly  from  her  yeoman  class, 
without  slaves,  or  with  only  one  or  two  to  a  family.  But  soon 
a  stream  of  aristocratic  planters  followed  these  "  small  farmers  " 
and  pushed  them  back  from  the  fat  lands  of  the  cotton  belt  to 
the  foothills.  There  the  small  farmers  continued  to  make  the 
bulk  of  the  population,  much  as  in  western  Pennsylvania  or 
North  Carolina,  raising,  mainly,  not  cotton  or  tobacco,  like  the 
"  planters,"  but  wheat,  corn,  and  live  stock. 

500.  New  England  was  populating  her  own  frontier  counties 
in  Maine,  and  also,  in  good  measure,  the  western  districts  of 
New  York  and  the  Lake  region  of  Ohio.  Her  sons  did  not  begin 
to  come  in  large  numbers  into  the  great  central  valley  until  the 
close  of  this  period. 

So  far  as  they  did  come,  they  were  from  her  western  democratic 
farming  communities.  They  kept  much  of  the  old  Puritan 
seriousness  and  moral  earnestness,  mingled  with  a  radicalism 
like  that  of  original  Puritans  of  the  Roger  Williams  type. 
They  were  reformers  and  "  come-outers  "  in  religion  and  politics 
and  society.  Temperance  movements,  Mormonism,  Abolition 
ism,  Bible  societies,  Spiritualism,  Anti-masonry,  schools  and 
colleges,  when  such  things  came  in  the  West,  all  found  their 
chief  support  from  this  element  of  the  population. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — Turner's  Eise  of  the  New  West,  and  Dodd's 
Expansion  and  Conflict,  20-37. 

tells  us,  58  members  were  from  the  South,  19  from  the  Middle  States,  and  only 
4  from  New  England.  As  late  as  1850,  two  thirds  the  population  of  Indiana  was 
Southern  in  origin.  Indeed,  the  "Hoosier"  element  was,  originally,  wholly 
from  North  Carolina. 


CHAPTER   XLV 
FOREIGN  RELATIONS,  1815-1830 

501.  FROM  Waterloo  to  the  Crimean  War  (1815-1854),  Europe 
had  no  general  war.     This  made  it  easier  for  the  United  States 
to  withdraw  from  European  entanglements  ;  and,  with  one  great 
exception  (§  504),  our  foreign  questions  were  concerned  mainly 
with  unsettled  boundaries.     The  Treaty  of  1783  had  drawn  our 
northern  boundary  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  "  due  west "  to 
the  Mississippi.     But  Pike's  exploration  (§  469)  had  made  clear 
that  the  Mississippi  rose  almost "  due  south  "  of  that  lake.   More 
over,  the  line  between  the  Louisiana  Province  and  the  British 
Possessions  had  never  been  determined.     The  Treaty  of  Ghent 
referred  the  matter  to  inquiry  by  a  mixed  commission ;  and 
the  "  Convention l  of  1818  "  between  England  and  the  United 
States  fixed  the  boundary  at  the  49th  parallel  from  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods  to  the  "  Stony  Mountains." 

502.  A  still  more  important  "  Convention  "  the  preceding  year 
(also  provided  for  -in  the  Treaty)  had  made  a  vast  gain  for 
humanity.     The  two  nations  agreed  that  neither  should  keep 
armed  vessels  (except  revenue  cutters)  on  the  Great  Lakes. 
Tliis  humane  and  sensible  arrangement  is  the  nearest  approach 
to  disarmament  yet  reached  by  international  agreement.     For  the 
century  since,  in  striking  contrast  to  the  constant  threat  of  all 
European  frontiers  with  their  frowning  fortresses  crowded  with 
hostile-minded  soldiery,   Canada  and  the  United  States   have 
smiled  in  constant  friendliness  across  the  peaceful  waters  that 
unite  our  lands. 


1 A  name  for  an  international  agreement  effected  by  an  exchange  of  "  notes 
rather  than  by  a  formal  "  treaty." 

423 


424  A  NEW  AMERICANISM,    1815-1830  [§  503 

503.  Oregon  at  this  time  was  an  indefinite  territory  between 
Spanish  California  and  Russian  Alaska.  No  bounds  had  really 
been  drawn  for  any  one  of  these  three  regions. 

Our  basis  for  claiming  Oregon  has  been  stated  (§  467).  Russia 
and  Spain  both  claimed  it  because  of  their  adjacent  possessions. 
More  serious  were  England's  claims.  Like  all  the  claimants, 
England  had  territory  adjacent  to  this  "  no  man's  land  "  ;  like 
the  United  States,  she  needed,  through  that  land,  an  opening  on 
the  Pacific  from  her  inland  territory ;  and  she  had  other  titles 
corresponding  closely  to  our  own.  (1)  To  leave  out  of 
account  the  ancient  discovery  by  Captain  Cook,  Vancouver  had 
explored  the  coast  in  an  English  vessel  in  1792,  just  before  Gray 
sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  (2)  The  year  following, 
Alexander  McKenzie,  in  the  employ  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com 
pany,  reached  the  region  overland  from  Canada.  Then  (3)  dur 
ing  the  War  of  1812,  Hudson  Bay  officers  seized  Astoria,  and 
England  now  had  possession. 

But  in  the  negotiations  with  England  in  1818  (§  501)  John 
Quincy  Adams  (Monroe's  Secretary  of  State)  put  forward  em 
phatic  claim  to  the  whole  Oregon  district.  The  "  Convention  " 
postponed  settlement  of  the  question,  leaving  the  territory  open 
for  ten  years  to  occupation  by  both  parties.  Then,  in  the  Florida 
treaty  of  1819-1821,  Adams  secured  from  Spain  a  waiver  of  any 
claim  she  might  have  had  north  of  the  42d  parallel.  We 
looked  upon  this  "quitclaim"  from  Spain  as  an  acknowledg 
ment  that  Oregon  belonged  to  the  United  States. 

Thus  the  matter  rested.  In  1828  the  agreement  with 
England  for  joint  occupation  was  renewed,  subject  to  a  year's 
notice  by  either  country.  The  debates  in  Congress  showed 
that  body  rather  indifferent  to  the  matter.  The  predominant 
feeling  was  that  we  could  never  occupy  so  inaccessible  and 
"  barren  "  a  region,  and  ought  not  to  if  we  could.  There  were 
enthusiastic  Westerners,  however,  whose  robust  faith  foresaw 
(with  the  great  Secretary  of  State)  that  in  a  few  years  Oregon 
would  be  nearer  Washington  than  St.  Louis  had  been  a 
generation  earlier,  and  that  it  was  to  make  our  indispensable 


§  504]  THE  MONROE   DOCTRINE  425 

gateway  to  the  Western  ocean  and  the  lands  of  the  Orient, 
—  "the  long-sought  road  to  India."  Said  Senator  Benton  of 
Missouri,  in  an  impassioned  oration,  reproaching  Eastern 
indifference,  "It  is  time  that  Western  men  had  some  share 
in  the  destinies  of  this  Republic."1 

504.  In  1821-1823  two  foreign  perils  called  forth  from  the 
Administration  the  proclamation  of  the  new  policy,  America 
for  Americans. 

(1)  In  1821  the  Tsar   of  Russia  forbade  citizens  of  other 
powers  even  to  approach  within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  on  the  American  side,  north  of  the  51st  parallel.     Russia 
had  no  settlements  within  hundreds  of  miles  of  that  line ;  and 
this  proclamation  was  practically  an  attempt  to  reserve  new 
American  territory  for  future  Russian  colonization.     Moreover 
it   would   have   turned   the   Bering   Sea,  with  its  invaluable 
fisheries,  into  a  Russian  lake,  absolutely  closed  to  all  other 
peoples.     The  idea  was  peculiarly  abhorrent,  both  because  of 
Russia's  exclusive  commercial   policy  (typified  in  the   proc 
lamation),  and  because  the  Tsar  was  the  head  of  the  despotic 
"  Holy  Alliance,"  which  at  just  this  time  was  planning  to  ex 
tend  its  political  system  to  South  America  and  Mexico. 

(2)  That  plan  was   itself  the   second   peril.     In  1821   the 
United  States  recognized   the  independence   of  the   revolted 
Spanish  American   States   (§464)   and   appointed   diplomatic 
agents  to  their  governments.     But  the  "league  of  despots," 
known  as  the  Holy  Alliance,  having  crushed  an  attempt  at 
a  republic  in  Spain  itself,  now  planned  to  reduce  the  former 
American  colonies  of  Spain  to  their  old  subjection.2 

England  stood  forth  in  determined  opposition.  Canning, 
the  English  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  made  four  separate 
friendly  suggestions  to  iour  minister  in  England  that  the  two 
English-speaking  powers  join  hands  to  forbid  the  project. 


1  On   these   debates,  see   Turner's    Rise  of  the   New    West,  128-133,   or 
McMaster,  V,  25-26,  481-489. 

2  For  a  brief  outline  of  all  this  story  see  Modern  World,  §§  638-643, 


426 


A  NEW  AMERICANISM,   1815-1830 


(§504 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  in  old  age.  From  the  portrait  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  now 
at  Bowdoin  College.  From  1809  to  his  death  in  1826,  Jefferson,  in  retire 
ment  at  Monticello,  remained  a  chief  leader  of  national  policies,  con 
stantly  consulted  by  Madison  and  Monroe.  He  died  July  4,  1826,  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  his  great  Declaration,  on  the  same 
day  with  his  old  friend  and  rival,  John  Adams. 

President  Monroe  (and  his  unofficial   advisers,  Madison  and 
Jefferson1)  wished  to  accept  this  offer  for  allied  action;  but 

1  Jefferson  thought  the  matter  "  the  most  momentous  since  the  Declaration 
of   Independence."    England's  mighty  weight — the  only  real  peril  to  an 


§  504]  THE  MONROE   DOCTRINE  427 

John  Quincy  Adams  insisted  strenuously  that  the  United 
States  must  "not  come  in  as  a  cockboat  in  the  wake  of  the 
British  man-of-war,"  and  finally  he  carried  the  Cabinet  and 
President  with  him  in  his  plan  for  independent  action. 

Canning  acted  first,  and,  in  his  proud  boast,  "  called  the 
New  World  into  existence,  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  Old." 
His  firm  statement  that  England  would  resist  the  proposed 
attack  upon  the  revolted  American  States  put  an  abrupt  close 
to  the  idea  of  European  intervention.  The  declaration  of 
policy  in  the  United  States  came  later,  but  it  has  had  a 
greater  permajient  significance.  In  his  message  to  Congress, 
December  2,  1823,  Monroe  adopted  certain  paragraphs  on  this 
matter,  written  by  Adams.  These  paragraphs  were  the  first 
announcement  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine :  — 

[1]  With  special  reference  to  Russia  and  Oregon,  —  "  the  American 
continents  .  .  .  are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future 
colonization  by  any  European  powers. "  [2]  With  regard  to  the  proposed 
"intervention"  by  the  Holy  Alliance,  —  "  The  political  system  of  the 
allied  powers  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  America.1  .  .  .  We  owe 
it  ...  to  those  amicable  relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and 
those  powers  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt  on  their  part 
to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemisphere,  as  dangerous  to 
our  peace  and  safety.2  .  .  .  With  the  existing  colonies  ...  of  any  European 
power  we  ...  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the  Governments  .  .  .  whose 
independence  we  have  .  .  .  acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  inter 
position,  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in  any  other 
manner  their  destiny,  by  any  European  power,  in  any  other  light  than 
as  a  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United  States." 

In  justification  of  this  position,  the  message  proclaimed  also 
that  we  intended  not  to  meddle  with  European  affairs.  We 

independent  American  system  —  could  now  be  brought  to  the  side  of  freedom ; 
and  the  fact  would  "  emancipate  the  continent  at  a  stroke."  This  result  was 
attained,  in  the  end,  by  separate  action  by  the  two  countries. 

1  This  statement  regarding  the  despotic  character  of  the  powers  united  in 
the  Holy  Alliance  has,  of  course,  little  logical  bearing  upon  intervention  in 
America  to-day  by  any  European  country  except  Germany. 

2  This  (like  the  final  sentence  quoted  below)  is  the  diplomatic  way  of  saying 
that  we  should  be  justified  in  regarding  such  action  as  a  declaration  of  war. 


428  A  NEW  AMERICANISM,    1815-1830  [§  505 

claimed  primacy  on  this  hemisphere;  we  would  protect  our 
weaker  neighbors  from  European  intrusion  or  molestation ;  but 
we  would  leave  the  Old  World  without  interference  from  us. 

TJie  thought  of  the  message  was  not  novel.  Part  of  it  is  found 
in  Washington's  utterances,  and  the  best  of  it  had  been  stated 
repeatedly  by  Jefferson  (§  446).  But  the  practical  application, 
in  1823,  gave  it  a  new  significance.  From  an  "academic" 
question,  it  was  suddenly  lifted  into  a  question  of  practical  inter 
national  politics. 

505.  The  message  was  thoroughly  effective  at  the  moment. 
England  hailed  it  as  making  absolutely  secure  her  own  policy 
of  preventing  European  intervention  in  America  ;  and  the  Tsar 
agreed  to  move  north  250  miles,  and  to  accept  the  line  of  54° 
40'  for  the  southern  boundary  of  Russian  Alaska. 

But  the  "Monroe  Doctrine"  was  not  limited  to  that  period. 
It  had  been  announced  merely  as  an  expression  of  opinion  by 
the  President.  No  other  branch  of  the  government  was  asked 
even  to  express  approval.  But  the  cordial  response  of  the  nation, 
on  this  and  all  subsequent  occasions,  has  made  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  in  truth,  the  American  Doctrine.  The  only  real  danger 
to  its  permanence  is  that  we  so  act  as  to  inspire  our  weaker 
American  brethren  with  fear  that  we  mean  to  use  its  high 
morality  as  a  shield  under  cover  of  which  we  may  ourselves 
plunder  them  at  will.  If  it  ever  becomes  probable  that  the 
sheep  dog  wards  off  the  wolves  that  he  himself  may  have  a 
fuller  meal,  his  function  will  not  long  endure. 

FOB  FURTHER  READING. — Morse's  John  Quincy  Adams. 


CHAPTER  XLVI 

NATIONALISM  AND  REACTION 

I.   THE   RISE   OF    "PROTECTION" 

506.  From  1807  to  1815  the  embargo  and  the  war  shut  out 
European  goods.     This  afforded  an  artificial  "protection"  for 
home  manufactures.     We  had  to  use  up  our  own  raw  cotton, 
wool,  and  iron,  or  let  them  go  unused ;   and  we  had  to  supply 
our  own  clothing,  fabrics,  tools,  and  machinery,  or  do  without. 

This  new  demand  for  building  up  home  manufactures  was 
met  mainly  in  New  England,  where  much  capital  and  labor, 
formerly  engaged  in  shipping,  was  temporarily  unemployed. 
In  1807  New  England  cotton  mills  had  only  8000  spindles  in 
use  (§  435)  ;  in  1809  the  number  was  80,000 ;  and,  by  the  close 
of  the  war,  500,000,  employing  100,000  workers.  Woolen  and 
iron  manufactures  had  not  grown  quite  so  rapidly ;  but  they 
also  were  well  under  way.  The  total  capital  invested  had 
risen  to  about  a  hundred  million  dollars.  Two  fifths  of  this 
was  in  the  cotton  industry. 

507.  When  peace  returned,  it  was  plain  that  this  manufactur 
ing  industry,  developed  by  unnatural  conditions,  could  not  sustain 
itself  against  restored  competition.     We   could  let  it  die,  and 
permit  the  capital  and  labor  to  find  their  way  back  into  other 
industries  ;   or  we  could  now  "protect "  it  from  foreign  compe 
tition  by  law.     To  do   this,  we  would   place  high  tariffs  on 
foreign  goods  like  those  we  manufactured. 

If  we  adopted  this  policy  of  "  protection,"  we  should  pay 
more  for  the  articles  than  if  we  let  them  come  in,  untaxed, 
from  the  Old  World,  where  their  cost  was  lower.  But,  it 
was  urged,  we  should  have  more  diversified  industries,  larger 
city  populations,  and  so  more  of  a  home  market  for  our  raw 

429 


430  NATIONALISM  AND  REACTION  [§  508 

materials  and  for  foodstuffs,  —  and,  after  a  time,  when  we 
should  come  to  do  the  work  efficiently,  even  cheaper  manufac 
tures,  because  of  the  absence  of  ocean  freights. 

The  question  of  "  protection  "  was  not  new.  Earlier  tariffs 
had  been  framed  to  carry  "  incidental  protection  "  (§  374) ;  and 
in  a  famous  Report  on  Manufactures  Hamilton  had  argued  for 
a  protective  tariff.  But  all  such  plans  had  been  for  taxation 
in  order  to  create  manufactures.  It  was  more  effective  to  call 
upon  Congress  to  preserve  industries  into  which  a  national  war 
had  driven  our  citizens. 

Moreover,  Calhoun  and  Clay  urged  that  America  must  make 
itself  independent,  economically,  of  Europe.  Such  economic 
independence,  they  argued  eloquently,  was  essential  to  real 
political  independence.  They  took  ground  for  America  like 
that  which  led  English  statesmen  in  1660  to  favor  the  old  Navi 
gation  Acts  for  the  British  Empire  (§  137).  The  war  had  just 
given  point  to  the  plea. 

John  Randolph  raised  his  voice  in  almost  solitary  protest  in 
Congress,  in  behalf  of  the  "  consumer"  With  keen  insight,  he 
warned  the  agricultural  masses  that  they  were  to  pay  the  bills, 
and  that,  in  the  discussion  of  future  rates,  they  would  never  be 
able  to  make  their  needs  and  opinions  felt  in  Congress  as  could 
the  small  body  of  interested  and  influential  capitalists  :  — 

"Alert,  vigilant,  enterprising,  active,  the  manufacturing  interests  are 
collected  .  .  .  ready  to  associate  at  a  moment's  notice  for  any  purpose  of 
general  interest  to  their  body.  .  .  .  Nay,  they  are  always  assembled.  They 
are  always  on  the  Rialto  ;  and  Shylock  and  Antonio  meet  every  day,  as 
friends,  and  compare  notes.  And  they  possess,  in  trick  and  intelligence, 
what,  in  the  goodness  of.  God  to  them,  the  others  can  never  have." 

508.  The  Tariff  of  1816  was  enacted  by  a  two-thirds  vote  as  an 
avowed  protective  measure.  Revenue  had  become  the  incident. 
Imported  cottons  and  woolens  were  taxed  25  per  cent ;  and 
manufactured  iron,  slightly  more. 

On  cheap  grades  of  cloth  the  rate  was  really  much  higher  than  25  per 
cent,  — disguised  by  a  '*  minimum-price  "  clause.  That  is,  the  bill  pro 
vided  that,  for  purposes  of  taxation,  no  cotton  cloth  should  be  valued  at 


§  510]  PROTECTIVE  TARIFFS,    1816-1828  431 

less  than  25  cents  a  yard.  If  the  cloth  was  really  worth  only  13  cents,  the 
tariff  was  still  6|  cents,  or,  in  reality,  fifty  per  cent.  This  effective  device 
for  placing  the  chief  tariff  burden  upon  the  poorest  classes  was  much 
practiced  in  later  tariffs. 

These  rates  proved  too  low  for  their  purpose.  English  ware 
houses  were  heavily  overstocked  with  the  accumulations  of  the 
years  of  European  wars,  during  which  the  markets  of  the  world 
had  been  closed  to  them ;  and  now  these  goods  were  dumped 
upon  America  at  sacrifice  prices. 

509.  Moreover,  in  1819,  came  the  first  world-wide  industrial  de 
pression.     Senator  Thomas  H.  Benton  describes  the  years  1819- 
1820  as  "a  period  of  gloom  and  agony.     No  money  ...  no 
price  for  property  or  produce.    No  sales  but  those  of  the  sheriff. 
No  purchaser  but  the  creditor  or  some  hoarder  of  money.     No 
employment  for  industry."    Niles'  Register,  a  paper  represent 
ing  the  interests  of  capital,  confessed  in  August,  1819,  that 
20,000  men  were  daily  hunting  work  on  the  streets  of  Philadel 
phia,  —  more  than  half  the  adult  male  population. 

The  American  causes  for  this  depression  of  1819  resembled 
those  of  later  "  crises."  (1)  The  promise  of  the  tariff  itself  had 
caused  overinvestment  in  factories  in  the  East ;  and  (2)  in 
the  West  there  had  been  reckless  overinvestment  in  public 
lands  by  thousands  of  poor  immigrants  who  were  unduly 
allured  by  the  "credit  system"  of  purchase  (§  458).  A  third 
cause,  which  intensified  the  evil,  was  the  recent  multiplication 
of  "  wild-cat "  State  banks  (after  the  expiration  of  the  first 
National  Bank  in  1811),  which  had  loaned  money  in  extrav 
agant  amounts,  and  so  had  encouraged  all  sorts  of  speculation. 
When  at  length  these  banks  found  themselves  forced  to  call  in 
their  loans,  or  to  close  their  doors,  they  spread  panic  and  con 
fusion  throughout  society. 

The  manufacturing  interests,  however,  ascribed  all  the  de 
pression  to  insufficient  "  protection,"  and  clamored  for  more. 

510.  The  Tariff  of  1824  found  its  leading  champion  in  Clay, 
who  now  glorified  the  protective  policy  with  the  name,  the 
American  System.     The  chief  opposition  in  debate  came  from 


432 


NATIONALISM  AND  REACTION  [§  510 


HOUSE  VOTE 

ON 

THE  TARIFF 
April  18,  1816 

In  favor 


K,  ENGRS..   BQSTuN 


Webster,  who  represented  a  commercial  district  in  Massa 
chusetts,  and  who  took  his  stand  upon  absolute  free-trade 
policy.1  In  general,  New  England  was  divided,  wavering  be 
tween  manufactures  and  a  return  to  its  old  shipping  interests. 
The  South  had  been  almost  solid  for  protection  in  1816,  but 

1  Webster  followed  the  teachings  of  all  "the  Fathers,"  except  Hamilton. 
The  Revolution,  in  no  small  degree,  was  fought  for  the  right  to  trade  at  will 
with  the  world.  For  a  generation  afterward,  this  fact  gave  a  free-trade  bias 
to  our  thought. 


§  510] 


PROTECTIVE   TARIFFS,    1816-1828 


433 


ON 

TARIFF  BILL 
April  22.  1828 

r///,////i 


now  it  was  solid  in  opposition,1  and  it  loudly  denied  the  consti 
tutionality  of  such  laws. 

The  bill  passed  by  bare  majorities,  through  the  union  of  the 
manufacturing  Middle  States  and  the  agricultural  West,  which 


1  The  South  found  that  slavery  shut  her  out  from  manufacturing  industry, 
and  her  agricultural  exports  could  not  be  sold  to  advantage  unless  the  United 
States  enjoyed  a  large  and  free  commerce  with  other  nations.  The  tariff 
threatened  to  shut  off  such  trade,  besides  increasing  the  cost  of  manufactured 
articles. 


434     NATIONALISM  :  REACTION  TOWARD   1830      [§  511 

hoped  to  see  a  home  market  for  its  raw  materials,  —  and  which 
believed  in  "  loose  construction  "  because  it  wanted  government 
aid  for  internal  improvements.  Tariff  rates,  on  an  average,  rose 
to  about  33  per  cent ;  and,  under  this  stimulus,  the  capital  in 
vested  in  manufactures  trebled  in  three  years.  Clamor  con 
tinued,  however,  for  still  higher  protection ;  and,  four  years 
later,  Congress  enacted  the  third  great  tariff  of  this  period,  — 
the  "  Tariff  of  Abominations." 

511.  This  Tariff  of  1828  was  engineered  largely  by  men  who 
planned  to  make  Jackson  President.    None  of  the  other  political 
leaders  dared  oppose  it  on  the  eve  of  a  presidential  campaign, 
but  they  did  make  it  an  atrocious  hotch-potch  by  amendments, 
—  in  the  vain  hope  that  its  authors  themselves  would  refuse  to 
swallow  it.     Said  John  Randolph,  "  This  bill  encourages  manu 
factures  of  no  sort  but  the  manufacture  of  a  President. w     Web 
ster  now  changed  sides,  frankly  assigning  as  his  reason  that 
Massachusetts  had  accepted  protection  as  a  settled  national 
policy  and  had  invested  her  capital  in  manufactures.     New 
England  and  the  /South  had  exchanged  positions  on  the  tariff  since 
1816.     The  law  raised  the  average  of  duties  on  taxed  articles 
to  49  per  cent,  —  far  the  highest  point  touched  until  the  "  war- 
tariffs  "  of  the  sixties,  —  and  gave  rise  to  a  new  nullification 
movement  (§§  574,  579  ff.). 

EXERCISE.  — Distinguish  between  free  trade  and  protection.  What  is 
a  revenue  tariff  ?  How  will  the  articles  taxed  in  such  a  tariff  differ  from 
those  taxed  in  a  "  protective  tariff  "  ?  If  a  large  revenue  is  wanted,  will 
it  be  secured  more  probably  from  a  high  tax  on  luxuries  or  a  low  tax  on 
necessities  ?  Would  people  pay  willingly  a  direct  tax  equivalent  to  the 
indirect  tax  they  pay  on  their  morning  coffee  ?  In  a  tax  ori  necessities,  do 
poor  or  rich  pay  most  in  proportion  to  their  wealth  ? 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Morse's  John  Qmncy  Adams,  Schurz's 
Clay,  Koosevelt's  Benton,  and  Lodge's  Webster  should  be  accessible. 

II.  THE  COURTS  AND  A  NEW  SECTIONALISM 

512.  The  feeling  for  nationality  upheld  the  Supreme  Court  in  a 

remarkable  series  of  decisions  during  this  period.  Perhaps 
the  most  famous  case  was  that  of  McCulloch  v.  Maryland  in 


§  513]  THE   FEDERAL  COURTS  435 

1819.  Maryland  had  imposed  a  ruinous  tax  on  the  Baltimore 
branch  of  the  National  Bank,  to  drive  it  from  the  State,  and  had 
brought  suit  in  her  own  courts  against  McCulloch,  an  officer  of 
the  Bank,  to  collect  the  money.  The  Maryland  court  upheld 
the  tax  and  denied  the  constitutionality  of  the  Bank  —  since 
the  power  to  charter  a  bank  was  not  among  the  "  enumerated 
powers."  McCulloch  applied  to  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  for 
a  "  writ  of  error"  That  court  took  jurisdiction  and  reversed 
the  State  court.  The  decision  was  written  by  John  Marshall. 
Three  points  deserve  notice  :  — 

(1)  The  title  of  the  case  would  seem  to  imply  a  suit  by  an 
individual  against  a  state — such  as  is  forbidden  to  Federal 
Courts  by  the  Eleventh  amendment.     But  the  State  had  begun 
the  suit  originally ;  and  the  Court  held  that  in  such  a  case  an 
appeal  by  the  individual  was  not  forbidden  by  the  amendment.1 

(2)  Following  the  argument  of  Hamilton  in  1791  (§  381), 
Marshall  affirmed  that  Congress  had  power  to  charter  the  bank 
under  the  "  necessary  and  proper  "  clause  of  the  Constitution. 
Those  words,  he  said,  meant  merely  "  appropriate." 

(3)  The  State  tax  law  was  declared  void  because  in  conflict 
with  this  Federal  bank  laiv.     Before  this,  State  laws  had  been 
declared  unconstitutional  only  when  in  conflict  with  the  Federal 
Constitution  itself. 

513,  Between  1819  and  1828,  eleven  of  the  twenty-four  States 
had  one  or  more  laws  declared  void  by  the  Federal  courts.  These 
decisions,  however,  did  not  go  without  vehement  opposition. 
Political  writers  piled  up  pamphlets  of  scathing  denunciation 
against  them ;  and  half  the  States  protested  or  actually  resisted 
some  decree.2  Virginia  sought  strenuously  to  have  Congress 
repeal  the  clause  of  the  Judiciary  Act  that  gave  the  Supreme 
Court  its  appellate  power  (§  372).  Ohio,  by  force,  took  from  a 

1  This  was  the  express  point  decided  by  Marshall  in  another  great  case, 
Cohens  v.  Virginia,  in  1821.     It  restored  to  the  Federal  judiciary  a  large  part 
of  the  power  that  the  Eleventh  amendment  had  been  thought  to  take  away. 

2  Details  are   given   in   Turner's   New   West,   299-305,  or,   more   fully,   in 
McMaster,  V,  412  ff . 


436  REACTION   AGAINST  NATIONALISM          [§  514 

branch  of  the  National  Bank  a  State  tax,  despite  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  held  it  for  six  years.1  Georgia  nul 
lified  a  treaty  made  by  the  Federal  government  with  the  South 
ern  Indians  within  her  borders  :  the  Supreme  Court  upheld  the 
treaty ;  but  Georgia  threatened  war  if  the  government  should 
try  to  enforce  its  rights,  and  carried  her  point  (§  585)  :  — 

514.  A  Summary  and  a  Forecast.  —  The  opposition  to  the  Federal 
judiciary  came  from  the  South  and  West.     This  was  merely  one  indica 
tion  of  a  new  sectionalism. 

From  1800  to  1815,  every  suggestion  of  interference  with  commerce 
(New  England's  main  economic  interest)  had  called  out  threats  of  nulli 
fication  or  secession  from  that  section.  The  pocket  book  was  stronger 
than  New  England's  loyalty. 

The  war  created  a  new  Nationalism.  From  1815  to  1820,  this  force 
seemed  wholly  triumphant.  It  expressed  itself  (i)  in  demands  for  in 
ternal  improvements,  to  bind  the  parts  of  the  Union  together  more  closely  : 
(2)  in  protective  tariffs,  to  make  the  country  independent  of  Europe  eco 
nomically  ;  (3)  in  a  new  National  Bank,  to  finance  the  government ;  and 
(4)  in  the  victory  of  "  Broad  Construction  "  along  various  other  lines, 
—  especially  in  a  wider  Federal  control  over  internal  commerce.2 

But  by  1820  this  Nationalism  had  to  contend  with  a  reaction  toward 
State  sovereignty  and  sectionalism.  From  that  time  to  the  Civil  War, 
political  history  is  a  struggle  between  the  forces  of  Union  and  Disunion. 
This  time  it  was  the  South  that  felt  her  pocket  book  in  danger.  She 
threatened  to  nullify  protective  tariffs  (§  579),  because  she  thought  they 
hindered  her  agricultural  prosperity  ;  and  every  suggestion  of  federal 
interference  with  slavery  impelled  her  into  disunion  movements,  because 
her  leading  industry  rested  on  slave  labor. 

515.  One  of  the  first  manifestations  of  the  new  sectionalism 
was  the  struggle  that  resulted  in  the  Missouri  Compromise  of 
1820.     Until  that  time  a  careful  balance  had  been  maintained 
between   slave   and   free   States   in   admitting   new  common 
wealths.     Vermont  offset  Kentucky ;  Ohio,  Tennessee  (§  384). 
Louisiana  (1812)  made  the  number  of  free  and  slave  States  just 
equal.     But  the   free   States   grew  much  faster  in   population, 
and  by  1820  (even  under  the  three-fifths   rule)  they  had  the 

1  McMaster,  IV,  498  ff.,  tells  this  story  in  a  striking  way. 

2  American  History  and  Government,  §  280. 


§  516]  THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  437 

larger   number   of  Representatives  in   the    lower    House    of 
Congress  by  a  fourth. 

Missouri  had  been  settled  mainly  through  Kentucky,  with 
many  slaveholders  among  its  people.  In  1819  a  bill  for  its 
admission  to  the  Union  came  before  Congress.  Tlie  proposed 
State  lay  north  of  the  line  of  the  Ohio,  which,  with  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  divided  free  and  slave  territory  east  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  North  roused  itself  to  insist  on  maintain 
ing  that  same  line  west  of  the  river ;  and  mass  meetings  and 
legislative  resolutions  protested  against  admission  with  slav 
ery.  The  South  protested  quite  as  vehemently  against  any 
restriction  upon  the  wishes  and  rights  of  the  Missouri  people. 
The  House  of  Representatives,  by  a  majority  of  one  vote, 
added  an  amendment  to  the  bill,  prohibiting  slavery  in  the 
proposed  State.  The  Senate  struck  out  this  "Tallmadge 
amendment,"1  and  the  bill  failed  for  that  session.  No  one 
yet  denied  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  forbid  or 
regulate  slavery  in  the  Territories,  but  many  Northerners,  even, 
denied  the  right  of  Congress  to  impose  restrictions  upon  a  new 
State- —  so  as  to  make  it  less  "  sovereign  "  than  older  States. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress  (1820),  the  Maine  district 
of  Massachusetts  was  also  an  applicant  for  admission  as  a 
new  State.  The  House  passed  both  bills,  restoring  the  Tall 
madge  amendment  for  Missouri.  The  Senate  put  the  two 
bills  into  one,  and  substituted  for  the  Tallmadge  prohibition  of 
slavery  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Missouri  was  to  be  admitted, 
with  permission  to  establish  slavery,  but  no  other  slave  State 
should  be  formed  out  of  existing  national  domain  north  of  the 
southern  boundary  of  Missouri  (36°  30').  The  policy  of  the  North 
west  Ordinance  was  applied  to  the  greater  part  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase. 

III.     FACTIONS  VS.    PARTIES 

516.  For  the  whole  period  1816-1829,  true  political  parties 
were  lacking.  The  old  Federalists  had  been  galvanized  into 

1  Introduced  by  James  Tallmadge  of  New  York. 


438 


A  NEW  SECTIONALISM 


[§517 


activity  in  New  England  by  the  Embargo  and  the  war ;  but 
in  1816  they  cast  only  35  electoral  votes ;  and  in  1820  none. 
The  old  party  lines  were  wholly  gone.  Accordingly,  his 
torians  have  sometimes  miscalled  the  period  "  the  era  of  good 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  0 


feeling."  In  fact,  it  was  an  era  of  exceeding  bad  feeling. 
The  place  of  parties,  with  real  principles,  was  taken  by  factions, 
moved  only  by  personal  or  sectional  ambitions. 

517.  This  became  plain  in  the  campaign  of  1824.  Crawford 
of  Georgia  was  nominated  for  the  presidency  by  a  Congressional 
caucus  (§  389),  which,  however,  was  attended  by  less  than  a  third  of 


518] 


ELECTION   OF   1824 


439 


the  members.  Legislatures  in  the  New  England  States  nominated 
John  Quincy  Adams  ;  and  in  like  fashion,  Clay  was  nominated 
by  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  Andrew  Jackson  by  Tennessee 
and  Pennsylvania. 


RESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OF  18259 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

BY  STATES 
Adams  Jackson  Crawford 


Jackson's  candidacy  was  a  surprise  and  an  offense  to  the 
other  statesmen  of  the  period.  He  was  a  "military  hero," 
and,  to  their  eyes  at  that  time,  nothing  more.  Never  before 
had  a  man  been  a  candidate  for  that  office  without  long  and 
distinguished  political  service  behind  him. 

518.  The    campaign  was    marked   by   bitter   personalities. 


440  POLITICAL  FACTIONS,    1820-1828  [§  519 

Adams,  whose  forbidding  manners  kept  him  aloof  from  the 
multitude,  was  derided  as  an  aristocrat,  while  Jackson  was  ap 
plauded  as  a  "  man  of  the  people."  Jackson  had  99  votes ; 
Adams,  84  ;  Crawford,  41 ;  Clay,  37.  According  to  the  Twelfth 
amendment,  the  House  of  Representatives  chose  between  the 
three  highest;  and  Adams  became  President,  through  votes 
thrown  to  him  by  Clay.  Adams  afterward  appointed  Clay  his 
Secretary  of  State ;  and  friends  of  Jackson  complained  bitterly 
that  the  "  will  of  the  people  "  had  been  thwarted  by  a  "  corrupt 
coalition  between  Puritan  and  blackleg." 1 

519.  Adams  was  thwarted  at  every  turn  throughout  his  four 
years,  and  the  Jackson  men  began  at  once  the  campaign  for  the 
next  election.     The  President's  inaugural  announced  internal 
improvements    as    a    leading    policy2    in    opposition    to    the 
vetoes  of  Madison  and  Monroe,  and  his  first  Message  urged 
Congress  to  multiply  roads,  found  a  National  University,  and 
build  an  astronomical  observatory  —  "a  lighthouse  of  the  skies." 
But  by  this  time,  many  States  had  begun  roads  and  canals  of 
their  own,  and  had  no  wish  to  help  pay  for  competing  lines 
elsewhere ;   so  Congress  had  become   lukewarm   even  on  this 
matter. 

520.  The  President's  position,  however,  helped  on  the  forma 
tion  of  new  political  parties.     Supporters  of  Adams  and  Clay, 
standing  for  internal  improvements  and  protection,  took  the 
name  of  National  Republicans,  to  indicate  their  belief  in  a  strong 
Central  government.     The  Jackson  cry  had  been,  "Let  the 
people  rule."     To  them,  the  campaign  of  1828  was  a  protest 
against  the  undemocratic  "  usurpation  "  of  1824.     Accordingly 
they  took  the  name  Democratic  Republicans,3  or,  a  little  later, 

1  It  was  thought,  unjustly,  that  Adams  and  Clay  had  bargained.  The  quoted 
phrase  was  John  Randolph's.  Clay  challenged  Randolph,  and  a  duel  was 
fought  without  injury  to  any  one.  Honor  thus  appeased,  pleasant  social  rela 
tions  were  restored  between  the  two. 

2  In  1807  Adams  had  moved  the  resolution  in  Congress  that  called  out  Galla- 
tin's  Report  (§456). 

8 To  indicate  their  claim  also  to  be  the  true  successors  of  Jefferson's  "Re 
publican  party." 


§  520]  THE   ELECTION   OF   1824  441 

merely  Democrats.  In  opposition  to  the  Broad  Construction 
platform  of  their  opponents,  they  soon  became  a  "  Strict  Con 
struction  "  party ;  but  they  won  the  election  of  1828  before  this 
question  came  to  the  front. 

Before  studying  Jackson's  administration,  we  must  look  at 
the  New  America  of  183G. 


PAET   IX 

A  NEW  DEMOCRACY,  1830-1850 


CHAPTER   XLVII 

THE   AMERICA   OF   1830-1850 

521.  The  North  Atlantic  section  was  turning  to  manufacturing. 

New  England  used  the  water  power  of  her  rivers  for  cotton, 
woolen,  and  paper  mills,  building  up  a  new  line  of  towns  (the 
Fall  line)  at  Lowell,  Manchester,  Lawrence,  Holyoke,  Fall 
River,  and  so  on.  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York 
got  like  results  by  using  "  stone  coal  "•  from  the  Pennsylvania 
mines,  which  were  now  accessible  cheaply  by  the  Pennsylvania 
canal  system  (§  496). 

In  1830  America  still  had  only  32  cities  with  more  -than 
8000  people  ;  but  all  but  four  of  these  were  in  this  manufac 
turing  region.  The  population  of  the  new  factory  towns  came 
at  first  from  the  old  farming  class,  drawn  in  from  the  country 
by  the  lure  of  companionship  and  cash  wages.  But  in  the 
thirties  these  workers  began  to  be  replaced  by  immigrants 
fresh  from  the  Old  World. 

522.  The  South  had  become   stationary   in   industry.     Slave 
labor  was  unfit  for  manufactures  ;    so  the  water  power  and 
mineral  resources  of  that  district  went  unused  for  forty  years 
more.      The  leading  industry  remained   tobacco  and   cotton 
raising. 

Southern  society,  too,  remained  stratified  along  the  old  lines. 
(1)  At  the  top  were  some  6000  families  (25,000  or  30,000 
people)  of  large  planters,  with  numerous  slaves,  —  sometimes  a 
thousand  to  one  owner.  This  aristocracy  furnished  the  South's 

442 


§  523]  NORTH,   SOUTH,   AND  WEST  443 

representation  in  the  National  government  and  almost  all  the 
higher  State  officials.  (2)  A  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
families  (650,000  people)  owned  perhaps  from  one  to  four  slaves 
each.  These  small  slaveholders,  with  about  as  many  more 
non-slaveholding  but  well-to-do  farmers,  made  up  the  yeomanry 
of  the  South,  from  whom  were  to  come  her  famous  soldiery. 
This  class  often  differed  from  the  aristocracy  in  political 
motives  and  aims  j  but  it  lacked  leaders,  and  it  had  no  organi 
zation  from  State  to  State.  (3)  The  "poor  Whites,"  without 
other  property  than  a  miserable  cabin  and  a  rough  clearing, 
outnumbered  the  yeomanry  two  to  one.1  This  class  made  the 
political  following  of  the  rich  planters.  (4)  The  180,000  free 
Negroes  were  hedged  in  by  many  vexing  laws,  and  had,  of 
course,  no  political  rights.  They  could  not  serve  on  juries ; 
nor  were  they  allowed  to  move  from  place  to  place  at  will,  or 
to  receive  any  education.2  (5)  The  2,000,000  slaves  made  about 
half  the  whole  population. 

523.  The  Mississippi  valley  gave  two  more  States  to  the 
Union  in  the  decade  after  1830  :  Arkansas  in  1836,  and  Michigan 
in  1837.  The  West  continued  to  grow  more  than  twice  as 
fast  as  the  rest  of  the  country  (cf.  §  498).  Between  1830 
and  1840,  Ohio  increased  70  per  cent ;  Indiana  and  Alabama, 
100  per  cent ;  Illinois  and  Mississippi  trebled  their  numbers  ; 
Michigan  multiplied  her  32,000  by  seven. 

In  1835  a  line  of  steamboats  began  to  ply  regularly  between 
Buffalo  (at  the  end  of  the  Erie  Canal)  and  Chicago.  Now  for 
the  first  time,  New  England  had  a  fit  road  to  the  West.  Her  sons 
quickly  colonized  southern  Michigan  and  northern  Indiana  and 
Illinois  (cf.  §§  499,  500),  and  a  little  later  they  made  the 
leading  element  in  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota. 

In  1830  Chicago  and  Milwaukee  were  still  mere  fur-trading 
stations.  Pittsburg,  with  its  12,000  people,  was  growing  dingy 
with  coal  smoke  from  its  iron  mills.  Cincinnati  ("  Porkopolis  "), 

1  These  two  classes  are  often  confused. 

2 There  were  nearly  as  many  more  free  Negroes  in  the  "  Negro  quarters" 
of  Northern  cities. 


444 


THE  WEST  OF  1830 


524 


in  the  center  of  a  rich  farming  country,  had  25,000  people  and 
took  to  itself  the  name  "  Queen  City  of  the  West "  ;  but  it  was 
the  only  place  in  the  oldest  Northwestern  State  with  more  than 
3000  people.  St.  Louis,  the  point  of  exchange  between  the 
fur  trade  of  the  upper  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  on  the  north, 
and  the  steamboat  trade  from  New  Orleans,  boasted  6000. 


CHICAGO  (FORT  DEARBORN)  IN  1831.    From  a  lithograph,  based  on  a  drawing 
of  that  year.    Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society. 

New  Orleans  remained  without  much  change.  The  rest  of  the 
people  dwelt  in  villages  or  on  farms.  Outside  the  aristocratic 
black  belt,  most  of  them  lived  in  log  cabins  with  homemade 
tables  and  beds  and  with  rough  benches  or  blocks  of  wood  for 
chairs. 

524.  Caution.  —  The  student  must  beware  of  classing  Mississippi  in 
1830  as  "  Southern,"  or  Illinois  as  "  Northern."  "  South  "  and  "North  " 
then  applied  only  to  the  divisions  of  the  Atlantic  States.  The  country  had 
three  sections,  —  North,  South,  and  West. 

During  the  next  twenty  years,  however,  the  difference  between  the  two 
systems  of  labor,  free  and  slave,  in  its  northern  and  southern  portions  split 
the  West  also  into  two  sections,  —  which  then  merged  with  the  cor 
responding  Atlantic  sections.  In  1850  there  were  only  two  sections  to  the 
Union,  —  a  North  and  a  South. 


§  526]       DEMOCRATIC  AND  SELF-CONFIDENT  445 

525.  The  Westerners  of  1830  had  developed  a  new  American 
type  —  to  remain  the  dominant  one  for  two  generations :  tall, 
gaunt   men,  adventurous  and  resolute,  of  masterful  temper, 
daunted  by  no  emergency,  impatient  of  authority,  but  with  a 
leaven  of  high  idealism.    The  West  believed  in  the  worth  of  the 
common  man.    Already  it  had  become  "  the  most  American  part 
of  America."     Here  the  new  nation  showed  best  its  raw  youth, 
unpolished,  but  sound  at  heart ;  crude,  ungainly,  lacking  the 
poise  and  repose  and  dignity  of  older  societies ;  but  buoyantly 
self-confident,  throbbing   with   rude   vigor,  grappling   uncon 
cernedly  with  impossible  tasks,  getting  them  done  somehow, 
and  dreaming  overnight  of  vaster  ones  for  the  morrow.    Some 
small  embarrassment  it  felt  for  its  temporary  ignorance  of 
books  and  art ;   but  it  exulted  boastfully  in  its  mastery  of 
nature  and   its   daring   social   experiments,  and   it  appealed, 
with  sure  faith,  to  the  future  to  add  the  refinements  and  graces 
of  life. 

526.  This  "American  propensity  to  look  forward  to  the  future" 
for  whatever  it  lacked  in  the  present,  particularly  amused  the 
many  supercilious  and  superficial  English  travelers  of  the  day. 
These   prejudice-blinded    gentlemen   delighted   in   portraying 
with   microscopic    detail,   skin-deep    blemishes    of   American 
society.    Even  Charles  Dickens,  whom  America  loved,  saw  little 
but  the  spittoons  and  the  hurry  at  the  lunch  counters.     No  one 
of  these  critics  saw  at  all  the  most  amazing  spectacle  of  all 
history  spread  before    their  eyes :   a  nation  in   the   making, 
occupying  and  subduing  a  rebellious  continent ;  felling  forests, 
plowing  prairies,  clearing  the  rivers,  hewing  out  roads  ;  found 
ing   farms  and  towns  and  commonwealths ;   solving  offhand 
grave  economic  problems,  wastef ully  sometimes,  but  effectively ; 
and  inventing  and  working  out,  on  a  gigantic  scale,  new,  pro 
gressive  principles  of  society  and  government.      "You  can't 
write  books,"  carped  the  visitor.     "  We're  busy  just  now," 
shouted  the  West  carelessly  over  its  shoulder,  "  but  just  wait 
till  we  get  this  bridge  built,  these  prairies  farmed,  that  new 
constitution  framed." 


446  THE  WEST   OF   1830  [§  526 

In  1820  Sydney  Smith  closed  his  tirade  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review  with  the  famous  passage :  — 

"  Who,  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  reads  an  American  book  ?  or 
goes  to  an  American  play  ?  or  looks  at  an  American  painting  or  statue  ? 
.  .  .  Who  drinks  out  of  American  glasses  ?  ...  or  sleeps  in  American 
blankets  ?  " 

To  this  charge  (which  the  next  twenty  years  were  to  make 
stupendously  ridiculous)  the  North  American  Review  replied 
with  the  customary  defense,  —  the  appeal  to  the  future.  This 
resulted  in  more  ridicule  from  the  English  Review :  — 

u  Others  claim  honor  because  of  things  done  by  a  long  line  of  ances 
tors  :  an  American  glories  in  the  achievements  of  a  distant  posterity.  .  .  . 
Others  appeal  to  history  ;  an  American  appeals  to  prophecy.  ...  If  a 
traveller  complains  of  the  inns,  and  hints  a  dislike  for  sleeping  four  in  a 
bed,  he  ...  is  told  to  wait  a  hundred  years  and  see  the  superiority  of 
American  inns  over  British.  If  Shakspere,  Milton,  Newton,  are  men 
tioned,  he  is  told  again,  '  Wait  till  we  have  cleared  our  land,  till  we  have 
idle  time,  wait  till  1900,  and  then  see  how  much  nobler  our  poets  and  pro- 
founder  our  philosophers  and  longer  our  telescopes,  than  any  your  decrepit 
old  hemisphere  will  produce.'  " 

That  the  retort  might  not  seem  so  amusing  "  in  1900  "  never 
occurred  to  the  English  humorist,  —  or  that  there  was  quite  as 
much  sense  in  taking  pride  in  descendants  (whom  we  will  have 
some  share  in  fashioning)  as  in  ancestors,  who  have  only  fash 
ioned  us.  Englishmen  paid  dearly  for  this  flippant  blindness 
by  the  rancor  stirred  in  American  hearts,  —  which  unhappily 
persisted  long  after  England  had  frankly  confessed  her  error. 


CHAPTER   XLVIII 
THE  AWAKENING  OF  LABOR,    1825-1837 

Laborin"1  man  an'  laboriri1  woman 

Hev  one  glory  an'  one  shame : 
Ev'y  thin'  thefs  done  inhuman 

Injers  all  on  'em  the  same. 

—  LOWELL,  in  the  Biglow  Papers. 

527.  The  democratic  upheaval  of  the  thirties,  revealed  first  in 
the  election  of  Jackson,  was. due,  first  of  all,  to  the  growth  of 
the  West  (ch.  xlvii).     Next  to  that,  it  was  due  to  the  awakening 
of  the  labor  class  in  Eastern  cities. 

In  large  degree,  this  labor  class  was  a  new  class,  due  to  the  re 
cent  introduction  of  new  machinery,  and  new  methods  of  manu 
facturing,  from  England.  In  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  while  America  was  waging  her  War  of  Independence, 
and  while  France  was  giving  the  world  her  great  social  revolu 
tion,  obscure  craftsmen  in  England  —  busied  in  homely  toil, 
puzzling  day  after  day  over  wheels  and  belts  and  levers,  and 
seeking  some  way  to  save  time  —  had  been  working  out  the 
Industrial  Revolution  which  was  to  change  the  daily  life  of  the 
masses  of  men  and  women  and  children  over  all  the  world. 

528.  In  colonial  times,  each  housewife  spent  all  spare  mo 
ments  at  the  spinning  wheel,  drawing  out  the  fiber  of  flax  or 
wool  into  thread  or  yarn,  one  thread  at  a  time.     This  thread 
was  woven  into  cloth  on  the  primitive  hand  loom,  older  than 
history.     In  America  this  weaving  also  was  usually  done  in 
each  farm  home.     In  England  it  was  done  commonly  by  a  dis 
tinct  class  of  skilled  weavers. 

529.  The  spinning  was  the  slower  work.     One  weaver  could 
use  all  the  thread  that  eight  spinning  wheels  could  supply. 

447 


448  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837  [§  530 

The  weavers  could  not  get  thread  fast  enough ;  and  in  1761 
prizes  began  to  be  offered  for  inventions  for  swifter  spinning. 
Three  years  later  —  just  when  parliament  was  blundering  into 
the  Stamp  Act  —  James  Hargreaves,  an  English  weaver,  noticed 
that  his  wife's  spinning  wheel,  tipped  over  on  the  floor,  kept 
on  whirling  for  a  surprising  time.  Taking  a  hint  from  this 
position,  he  invented  a  machine  where  one  ivheel  turned  eight 
spindles,  and  spun  eight  threads  at  a  time.  Hargreaves  called 
the  new  machine  the  Jenny,  for  his  wife.  Soon  it  was  improved 
so  as  to  spin  sixteen  threads  at  a  time. 

Then  in  1771  (two  years  after  Lord  North  had  provoked  the 
"  Boston  Massacre,"  and  two  years  before  he  provoked  the 
Boston  Tea  Party)  Richard  Arkwright,  an  English  peddler,  de 
vised  a  new  sort  of  spinner  without  spindles.  He  ran  his  wool 
or  cotton  through  a  series  of  rollers,  turning  at  different  rates, 
to  draw  out  the  thread  ;  and  he  drove  his  machine  by  tvater  power, 
and  so  called  it  the  Water  Frame.  The  year  after  Burgoyne's 
Surrender,  or  in  1779, 'Samuel  Crompton,  an  English  weaver,  in 
geniously  combined  the  best  features  of  the  Jenny  and  the  Water 
Frame  in  a  machine  which  he  called  the  Mule,  in  honor  of  this 
mixed  parentage.  With  the  Mule,  one  spinner  could  spin  two 
hundred  threads  at  a  time. 

530.  Two  hundred  threads  seem  few  to  us,  familiar  as  we 
are  to-day  with  machinery  such  that  a  man  with  one  or  two 
boys  winds  12,000  spools  at  once;  but  at  the  time  the  Mule 
made  a  revolution  in  cloth  manufacturing.     Now  the  weavers 
could  not  keep  up  with  the  spinners  ;  and  it  was  needful  to  improve 
the  loom. 

On  the  hand  loom,  threads  were  first  drawn  out  lengthwise 
on  a  frame,  making  the  warp.  The  weaver  then  passed  his 
shuttle  by  hand  back  and  forth  between  those  threads  to  form 
the  woof.  But  in  1784  Edmund  Cartwright,  an  English  clergy 
man,  patented  a  power  loom,  in  which  the  shuttle  threw  itself  back 
and  forth  automatically. 

531.  The  next  need  was  more  cotton  to  spin  and  weave. 
Whitney's  Cotton  Gin  (§  436)  soon  made  it  easy  for  America  to 


§  534J  THE   INDUSTRIAL  REVOLUTION  449 

furnish  that.  And,  even  sooner,  Watt's  engines  began  to 
provide  a  better  power  than  water  to  drive  the  new  machinery. 
Steam  was  first  used  to  drive  spinning  machinery  in  1785. 
Fifteen  years  later,  England  was  using  more  steam  engines 
than  water  wheels.  By  1 800  the  age  of  steam  and  of  machinery 
had  fairly  begun  in  that  country. 

532.  The  English  inventions  were  soon  known  in  America 
(§  435),  but  they  did  not  come  into  common  use  here  for  another 
generation.     In  1800  this  country  had  only  four  steam  engines, 
and  only  four  cotton  mills  run  by  water.     The  Industrial  Revo 
lution  came  here  sooner  than  in  any  other  country  after  Eng 
land  ;  but  it  did  not  begin  for  us  until  .the  War  of  1812  made 
it  necessary  for  us,  for  a  time,  to  manufacture  all  our  own 
cloth. 

533.  With  machinery  and  steam  power,  one  laborer  was  soon 
able  to  produce  more  wealth  than  hundreds  had  produced  by  the  old 
hand  processes.     This  ought  to  have  been  pure  gain  for  all  the 
world,  and  especially  it  should  have  meant  more  comfort  and 
more  leisure  for  the  workers.     It  is  not  the  fault  of  Hargreaves 
and  Crompton  and  Cartwright  and  Watt  that  most  of  the  new 
wealth  went  to  a  new  class  of  capitalists :  the  fault  lay  with 
the  imperfect  organization  of  human  society.     Part  of  the  in 
creased  wealth  did  go,  indirectly,  to  the  common  gain,  in  lower 
prices.     Every  one  could  soon  buy  cloth  and  hardware  cheaper 
than  before  the  Industrial   Revolution.     But,  even   yet,  the 
workers  have  failed  to  get  their  fair  share  of  the  world's  gain ; 
and  for  many  of  them  the  Industrial  Revolution  has  meant,  not 
higher  life,  but  lower  life.     Especially  was  this  true  when  that 
Revolution  was  young. 

534.  The  new  machinery  was  costly.     Workmen  could  not 
own  it  as  they  had  owned  their  old  looms  and  spinning  wheels. 
Nor  did  they  know  how  to  combine  so  as  to  own  it  in  groups. 
It  all  passed  into  the  hands  of  wealthy  men  ("  capitalists  ").     The 
capitalist  manufacturer  was  a  new  figure  in  human  society. 
He  was  not  himself  a  workman,  like  the  small  employers  in  the 
old  Domestic  system.     He  used  his  money  to  build  huge  brick 


450  THE  LABOR  MOVEMENT,   1825-1837          [§  535 

factories  story  on  story ;  to  fill  them  with  costly  machinery ; 
to  buy  the  "  raw  material "  (cotton,  wool,  iron,  as  the  case  might 
be)  ;  and  to  pay  wages  to  hired  workers,  or  "  operatives."  The 
"  Domestic  "  system  of  industry  gave  way  to  a  new  Capitalist  sys 
tem,  or  Wage  system,  or  Factory  system. 

535.  Under  the  old  Domestic  system,  even  in  manufacturing 
districts  like  Pennsylvania,  the  workmen  lived  in  their  own 
homes,  owned  their  own  tools,  and  varied  their  toil  (or  used 
idle  time)  by   tilling  plots   of  ground  about  their  cottages. 
Their  condition  was  more  like  that  of  the  farmer  of  to-day  than 
like  that  of  the  modern  factory  worker. 

As  the  Factory  system  came  in,  the  worker  was  compelled  to  change 
his  whole  manner  of  life.  He  must  reach  the  factory  within  a 
few  minutes  of  the  first  bell,  about  sunrise,  and  stay  until  it 
grew  too  dark  for  work.  (There  were  then  no  artificial  lights 
suitable  to  illuminate  factories.)  So  the  capitalist  built  long 
blocks  of  ugly  tenements  near  his  factory,  for  rent ;  and  his 
"  hands  "  moved  from  their  rural  homes,  with  garden  spots  and 
fresh  air  and  varied  industry,  into  these  crowded  and  squalid 
tenement  districts,  to  live  amid  destitution  and  disease  and  vice. 
The  factory  system  built  up  towns  swiftly;  but  these  new 
towns  had  no  fit  water  supply,  no  sewerage  system,  no  garbage 
collection.  Science  had  not  learned  how  to  care  for  these  needs, 
and  law  had  not  begun  to  wrestle  with  them. 

536.  Thus  the  new  manufacturing  society  was  made  up  of  two 
hostile  classes.     Under  the  Domestic  system,  apprentices  and 
journeymen  had  expected  to  rise,  sooner  or  later,  to  be  "mas 
ters  "  ;  and  at  all  times  they  lived  in  constant  intercourse  with 
their  employers,  who  worked  side  by  side  with  them,  shared 
their  hard  conditions,  and  had  a  sort  of  fatherly  guardianship 
over  them.    Under  the  new  system,  a  particularly  enterprising 
and  fortunate  workman  might  now  and  then  rise  into  the  capi 
talist  class ;  but,  on  the  whole  a  distinct  and  permanent  line 
divided  the  two  classes. 

The  capitalist,  too,  had  no  personal  contact  with  his  work 
men.  He  employed,  not  two  or  three,  living  in  his  own  family, 


537] 


THE  NEW  CAPITALISTS 


451 


but  hundreds  or  thousands,  whom  he  never  saw  outside  the 
factory  and  whose  names  even  he  did  not  know  except  on  the 
payroll.  There  was  little  chance  for  understanding  between 
him  and  his  "  hands." 

537.  The  men  who  owned  and  managed  factories  and  banks 
and  canal  systems,  together  with  a  growing  body  of  speculators 
and  small  money-masters,  made  up  the  capitalist  class.  They 


The  Distribution  of 

Industrial  Plants 

in  1833 

SCALE  OF  MILES 


With  permission,  from  Dodd's  Expansion  and  Conflict  ("  Riverside  History  of 
the  United  States"),  published  by  the  Ho  ugh  ton  Mifflin  Company.  Dr. 
Dodd  states  that  the  map  was  prepared  by  Miss  Maud  Hulse  from  data  in 
Congressional  Documents. 

were  keen,  forceful,  driving  men,  with  few  interests  outside 
"business."  Absorbed  in  a  mad  race  with  one  another  for 
wealth  and  power,  they  had  little  sympathy  or  time  for  the 
needs  of  the  two  million l  "  operatives  "  whose  lives  they  ordered 
almost  as  absolutely  as  Southern  planters  ordered  the  lives  of 
their  two  million  Blacks. 

Like  the  planters  of  the  black  belt,  too,  they  dwelt  mainly 
in  a  small  area  —  a  narrow,  curving  band  of  manufacturing 


1  This  is  McMaster's  estimate  for  the  whole  number  of  operatives  in  all  lines 
in  1825. 


452  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837  [§  538 

territory ;  but  through  many  subtle  influences,  they  held  the 
faithful  allegiance  of  the  whole  North  Atlantic  section  from  the 
Chesapeake  to  the  Kennebec.  They  furnished  the  stocks  and 
controlled  the  credit  of  the  storekeepers  in  the  small  towns ; 
they  endowed  the  colleges  and  built  the  churches ;  they  gave 
the  best-paying  employment  to  lawyers.  The  farmers  —  lately 
followers  of  Jefferson  —  felt  their  prosperity  bound  up  with 
that  of  the  great  industrial  towns  that  made  their  markets ; 
and  even  the  operatives  long  voted  unquestioningly  for  the  sys 
tem  which,  they  were  assured,  filled  their  meager  dinner  pails. 

Nor  were  any  of  these  tributary  classes  consciously  servile. 
To  most  people  in  this  period  a  "  captain  of  industry  "  typified 
American  success.  He  was  the  natural  leader,  honestly  ad 
mired  as  a  model  for  youth. 

This  capitalist  class  early  developed  a  keen  scent  for  special 
privilege,  to  be  secured  through  courts  and  legislatures. 
Especially  did  it  take  advantage  of  the  generous  Americanism 
of  South  and  West  just  after  the  war  of  1812  to  intensify  the 
"  protection  "  for  its  pet  industries  in  the  tariffs  of  the  period. 
From  this  it  reaped  a  rich  harvest.  Between  1820  and  1830 
the  output  of  American  factories  rose  sixfold.  In  1830  its 
value  was  a  half  greater  than  that  of  all  the  produce  of  South 
ern  plantations  —  though  the  planters  had  an  investment  five 
times  that  of  the  factory  owners.  Since  the  factory  workers  got 
only  a  bare  living,  this  huge  factory  output  meant  immense 
profits  for  the  capitalist. 

538.  Between  1800  and  1825  the  mass  of  hired  labor  in  America 
shifted  from  the  farm  to  the  factory.  The  factory  "  operative," 
like  the  capitalist,  was  a  new  figure.  And,  unlike  the  capitalist, 
he  was  a  helpless  one.  He  furnished  nothing  but  his  hands. 
Numbers  of  men  wanted  work ;  and  much  factory  work  could 
be  done  by  women  and  children,  —  especially  in  cloth  manufac 
tures,  where  it  consisted  largely  in  turning  levers  or  tying 
broken  threads  or  cleaning  rollers.  Until  the  operatives  learned 
to  combine,  so  as  to  bargain  collectively,  the  capitalist  fixed  wages 
and  hours  and  conditions  as  he  liked. 


§  539]  THE   DAWN-TO-DARK  DAY  453 

539.  Carpenters  and  masons  commonly  worked  from  sunrise 
to  sunset  —  just  as  farm  laborers  did.  Those  long  hours  were 
terribly  hard  ;  but  they  were  endurable  because  they  were  spent 
in  fresh  air,  amid  outdoor  scenes,  in  interesting  and  varied  ac 
tivity.  But  this  long  labor  day  of  thirteen  or  fifteen  hours  (for 
much  of  the  year)  was  now  carried  into  the  factory.  There  it 
was  unendurable  and  ruinous,  because  of  foul  air,  poor  light, 
incessant,  nerve-racking  noise  of  machinery,  and  because 
there  it  crushed  women  and  children. 

Hope  Factory  (Rhode  Island),  in  1831,  rang  its  first  bell  ten 
minutes  before  sunrise.  Five  minutes  after  sunrise  the  gates 
were  locked  against  tardy  comers,  not  to  open  again  until  eight 
at  night.  (And  a  committee  of  laborers  claimed  that  the 
employer  stretched  this  horrible  "  day  "  by  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  minutes  more,  by  always  keeping  the  factory  clock  slow.) 
The  only  respites  from  toil  during  the  fifteen  or  sixteen  hours 
were  twenty-five  minutes  for  breakfast  and  a  like  period  for 
dinner,  —  both  meals  being  cold  lunches  brought  by  the  opera 
tives.  And  more  than  half  the  operatives  were  children. 

This  was  not  an  exceptional  instance :  it  was  typical.  At 
Paterson,  New  Jersey,  women  and  children  were  at  their  work 
in  the  mills  by  4  : 30  in  the  morning.  The  Eagle  Mill  (at 
Griswold,  Connecticut)  called  on  its  employees,  in  1832,  for 
fifteen  hours  and  ten  minutes  of  actual  toil. 

Lowell  ivas  a  notable  exception.  No  child  under  twelve  was 
employed  there ;  the  day  was  "  short " ;  and  all  conditions 
were  unusually  favorable.  At  4  : 30  A.M.  the  bell  summoned 
the  workers  from  their  beds.  At  five  they  must  be  within  the 
mills,  and  the  gates  were  closed.  With  a  half  hour,  later,  for 
breakfast,  and  forty-five  minutes  for  "  dinner/'  the  labor  con 
tinued  till  7  P.  M.  The  manufacturing  company  provided  plain 
lodgings  and  arrangements  for  cheap  board  at  $  1 .50  per  week. 
Skillful  workers  (paid  by  the  piece)  might  possibly  earn  twice 
that  amount.  The  employees  were  almost  all  farmers7  daugh 
ters.  After  their  fourteen  hours  a  day  in  the  factory,  these 
vigorous  young  women,  for  one  generation,  had  energy  for  liter- 


454  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837  [§  540 

ary  clubs  and  social  activities.  Churches  and  lectures  arranged 
their  meetings  late  enough  in  the  evening  to  be  attended  by 
these  eager  working  girls.  The  girls  wrote,  edited,  and  pub 
lished  a  periodical  of  considerable  literary  merit.1 

540.  The  working  class  were  first  aroused  against  this  long  labor 
day  by  a  growing  conviction  of  the  need  of  schooling  for  factory 
children.  In  the  Massachusetts  legislature  of  1825,  a  com 
mittee  on  education  sent  inquiries  to  the  mayors  and  aldermen 
of  all  Massachusetts  factory  towns  regarding  hours  of  labor 
for  children  and  opportunities  for  schooling.  The  replies 
were  as  favorable  as  shame,  or  local  pride,  could  make  them ; 
but  no  town  claimed  less  than  eleven  hours  of  steady  work 
per  day  for  children  (from  six  to  seventeen  years  old),  and 
only  two  reported  so  short  a  day.  The  "dawn  to  dark" 
day  was  frankly  reported  in  many  cases.  Seekunk  stated 
that  its  child  operatives  "  work  twelve  hours ;  Some  may  get 
eight  weeks'  Schoolg."2  Waltham  failed  to  state  the  hours 
of  labor,  but  said,  "  As  much  oppy  for  Schoolg  as  can  be 
expected  "  (!)  Bellingham  honestly  declared,  "  Work  twelve 
hours  pr  day.  No  oppy  for  School  except  by  employg 
substitutes."  [This  long  labor  day  meant  every  day  in  the 
year,  save  Sundays,  be  it  remembered,  except  in  a  few  places 
where  conditions  made  it  more  profitable  to  close  the  fac 
tories  for  some  eight  weeks  of  the  winter.]  Southbridge 
reported  "  Average  twelve  hours.  These  children  are  better  off 
than  their  neighbors "  (!)  [An  average  of  twelve  hours  meant 

1  Lucy  Larcom's  A  New  England  Girlhood.     I  have  also  heard  this  society 
described  vividly  by  a  woman  of  strong  character  and  fine  culture,  —  long  a 
leading  educator  in  a  progressive  State,  —  who  was  herself  a  Lowell  factory 
girl  in  the  forties.     Labor  gatherings*to  complain  of  factory  conditions  often 
made  mention  of  Lowell  as  an  honorable  example  to  other  factory  towns. 

2  The  quotations  from  these  replies  are  given  from  a  tabulated  summary 
made  by  the  committee  in  its  report  to  the  legislature.     The  report  seems 
never  to  have  been  printed  until  it  was  reproduced  recently  in  the  Documen 
tary  History  of  American  Industrial  Society  (10  vols. ;  edited  by  John  R. 
Commons,  in  association  with  four  other  scholars).    Most  of  the  other  facts 
about  labor  stated  in  §§  539-555  are  based  upon  documents  given  in  Volume 
V  and  VI  of  that  work  —  edited  by  Dr.  Commons  and  Helen  L.  Sumner. 


§  540]  DEMAND  FOR  SCHOOLS  455 

some  fourteen  hours  in  summer,  to  balance  the  short  winter 
days.]  Boston  said  concisely,  "No  Schoolg."  Fall  Eiver, 
with  unconscious  irony,  stated,  "  Work  all  day.  There  are 
good  public  and  private  S.  and  a  free  Sunday  School." 

These  horrible  conditions  show  even  more  plainly  in  a 
temperate  statement  by  "  Many  Operatives  "  in  the  Mechanics' 
Free  Press  for  August  21,  1830,  regarding  children  in  the 
Philadelphia  factories :  — 

44  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  principal  part  of  the  helps  in  cotton 
factories  consist  of  boys  and  girls,  we  may  safely  say  from  six  to  seventeen 
years  of  .age.  .  .  .  We  are  confident  that  not  more  than  one-sixth  of  the 
boys  and  girls  employed  in  such  factories  are  capable  of  reading  or  writing 
their  own  names.  We  have  known  many  instances  where  parents  who 
are  capable  of  giving  their  children  a  trifling  education,  one  at  a  time, 
[have  been]  deprived  of  that  opportunity  by  their  employers'  threats  that 
if  they  did  take  one  child  from  their  employ,  a  short  time,  for  school, 
such  family  must  leave  the  employment  .  .  .  and  we  have  even  known 
such  threats  put  in  execution.  .  .  .  "  J 

In  1832,  at  a  Boston  convention  of  New  England  Mechanics 
and  Workingmen,  a  committee  reported  upon  the  schooling  of 
working-class  children  with  much  detail.  The  summary  of 
that  report  runs  :  — 

"  The  children  .  .  .  employed  in  manufactories  constitute  about  two 
fifths  of  the  ichole  number  of  persons  employed.  .  .  .  On  a  general  aver 
age  the  youth  and  children  .  .  .  are  compelled  to  labor  at  least  thirteen 
and  a  half,  perhaps  fourteen,  hours  per  day,  factory  time.  .  .  .  Your 
committee  also  learn  that  in  general  no  child  can  be  taken  from  a  Cotton 
Mill,  to  be  placed  at  school,  for  any  length  of  time,  however  short, 
without  certain  loss  of  employ.  .  .  .  Nor  are  parents,  having  a  number 
of  children  in  a  mill,  allowed  to  withdraw  one  or  more  without  withdraw 
ing  the  whole,  —  for  which  reason,  as  such  children  are  generally  the  off 
spring  of  parents  whose  poverty  has  made  them  entirely  dependent  on  the 
will  of  their  employers,  they  are  very  seldom  taken  from  the  mills  to  be 
placed  in  school.  ...  It  is  with  regret  that  your  committee  are  abso- 

1  The  communication  expresses  indignation  at  the  retort  of  an  employer 
that  legislation  to  shorten  the  factory  day  "  would  be  an  infringement  on  the 
rights  of  the  people,"  and  queries  significantly  "  whether  this  individual, 
or  the  number  employed  by  him,  is  '  the  people.'  " 


456  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837          [§  541 

lutely  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  only  opportunities  allowed  to  chil 
dren  generally,  employed  in  manufactories,  to  obtain  an  education,  are  on 
the  Sabbath  and  after  half-past  8  o'clock  of  the  evening  of  other  days. 
Your  committee  cannot,  therefore,  without  the  violation  of  a  solemn  trust, 
withhold  their  unanimous  opinion  that  the  opportunities  allowed  to  chil 
dren  employed  in  manufactories  to  obtain  an  education  suitable  to  the 
character  of  American  freemen,  and  to  the  wives  and  mothers  of  such, 
are  altogether  inadequate  to  the  purpose ;  that  the  evils  complained  of  are 
unjust  and  cruel ;  and  are  no  less  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  dearest  inter 
ests  of  thousands  of  the  rising  generation  to  the  cupidity  and  avarice  of 
their  employers." 

541.  Labor,  too,  had  lost  its  old  lever  of  free  land.  Near  the 
Eastern  cities,  land  was  no  longer  "  free."  Even  in  the  West 
the  rage  for  speculation  in  land  (§  442)  forced  the  real  settler 
either  to  pay  unreasonable  prices  to  private  holders,  or  to  take 
undesirable  lands,  or  to  go  far  from  markets  and  neighbors, 
—  so  that  his  life  was  more  barren  and  his  profits  lost  in  the 
cost  of  transportation. 

Still  the  public  domain  in  that  vast  section  did  offer  hope 
to  many  individuals  from  the  East,  especially  if  they  had  a 
little  capital  and  much  self-reliance.  But  such  emigrants  went 
mainly  from  the  farm  or  the  small  village.  The  public  domain 
did  not  much  help  the  factory  class.  How  should  a  penniless 
factory  family  get  team  and  wagon  for  the  long  journey  to  the 
West  ?  Or  food  and  supplies  for  that  journey  and  for  the  hard 
months  afterward  while  the  first  crop  was  coming  to  harvest  ? 
Or  tools  and  seed  to  get  in  a  crop  ?  How,  indeed,  should  the 
man  get  the  $100  necessary  to  secure  the  smallest  farm  the 
government  would  sell  him?  Or,  if  he  took  the  chance  of 
"  squatting  "  on  government  land,  without  paying  down  the 
price,  how  should  he  keep  some  sharp-eyed  speculator  from 
buying  the  place  at  the  first  government  sale  —  so  reaping  all 
the  profits  of  his  toil?  Preemption  and  homestead  laws  were 
still  in  the  future,  though  both  the  West  and  the  Eastern  labor 
party  were  already  calling  for  them.  In  the  absence  of  such 
laws,  the  poor  man  from  the  East  who  sought  a  home  on  the 
public  domain  took  heroic  risks. 


§  544]         HOSTILITY   OF  COURTS  AND  PRESS  457 

542.  Labor,  then,  must  depend  upon  itself,  and  wage  its  fight 
in  its  own  Eastern  home.     So  the  workers  sought  strength  in 
organization.     Labor  "  unions  "  had  appeared  before  1800,  but 
only  for  "  mutual  insurance  "  and  other  benevolent  and  social 
purposes.     The  hint  that  such  organizations  might  be  used  in 
class  war  seems  to  have  come  from  the  side  of  capital.     Soon 
after  1800,  the  newspapers  begin  to  notice  "  combinations  "  of 
capitalists  to  raise  prices.     Then  the  labor  combinations  began 
to  ask   for   shorter  hours   and   better  wages,  and  finally  to 
"  strike  "  for  them.    Between  1802  and  1807,  New  York,  Phila 
delphia,  Boston,  and  Baltimore  (about  all  the  cities  of  that 
time)  had  one  or  more  strikes. 

543.  A  few  progressive  thinkers,  like  William  Ellery  Chan- 
ning  and  Horace  Mann,  saw  that  the  labor  question  was  the 
question  of  human  welfare ;   but  in  general  the  "  respectable 
classes  "  long  looked  on  all  labor  unions  as  iniquitous  and  revolu 
tionary  conspiracies.     Like  the  old  French  political  despotism 
(§  16),  so  in  this  industrial  matter,  the  capitalist  classes  held 
it  proper  that  each  weak  worker  should  speak  for  himself,  and 
that  "no  one  should   speak  for  the  whole."1     In  Boston  a 
"  combination "  of  merchants  announced  in  the  public  press 
that  their  "union"  had  pledged  itself  to  drive  the  shipwrights, 
caulkers,  and  gravers  of   that  city  to  abandon  "  unions "  or 
starve,  and  that  they  had  subscribed  $20,000  for  that  purpose. 

544.  The  attitude  of  the  propertied  classes  was  reflected  in  the 
courts.    Here  the  unions  found  their  chief  obstacle.    The  courts 
promptly  put  down  this  first  series  of  early  strikes  by  punish 
ing  the  leaders  sternly  for  "  conspiracy  "  —  under  the  odious 
principles  of  the  English  Common  Law.     In  1825,  it  is  true,  a 
New  York  jury  destroyed  the  terror  of  such  prosecutions  for  a 

1  It  is  curious  to  note  that  Monroe,  in  one  of  his  messages  to  Congress  dur 
ing  the  terrible  panic  of  1819,  had  congratulated  manufacturers  on  the  "  fall 
in  the  price  of  labor,  so  favorable  to  the  success  of  domestic  manufactures." 
And  Hamilton,  in  urging  that  America  should  develop  manufactures,  wrote 
with  enthusiasm  of  the  fact  that  in  Great  Britain  four  sevenths  of  the  em 
ployees  in  the  cotton  factories  were  women  and  children,  the  greater  propor 
tion  being  children,  "  and  many  of  a  tender  age  " ! 


458  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837  [§  545 

time  by  awarding  a  fine  of  only  "  one  dollar  "  for  the  "  crime  " 
of  "  conspiring  to  raise  wages."  But  not  till  1842  did  any 
court  recognize  that  workmen  had  the  same  right  of  collective 
bargaining  as  had  always  been  possessed  without  question  by 
employers.  In  that  year  the  Massachusetts  Supreme  Court 
held  that  labor  organizations  might  legally  try  to  advance 
wages  "by  rules  binding  solely  on  members." 

545.  Another  obstacle  to  the  early  labor  movement  was  the  fact 
that  all  newspapers  were  bitterly  and  contemptuously  hostile.     The 
working  class  had  no  way  to  get  their  grievances  or  their  pro 
gram  before  the  public.     But  in  1825  George  Henry  Evans  and 
Frederick  W.  Evans  (recent  English  immigrants)  began  to  pub 
lish  the    Workingman's  Advocate  at  New  York.     Two  years 
later,  the  Mechanics-  Free  Press  appeared  at  Philadelphia. 

Now  "  unions "  multiplied  swiftly,  and  a  strenuous  labor 
war  began.  The  twelve  years  between  the  founding  of  the  first 
labor  paper  (1825)  and  the  great  "  panic  "  of  1837  saw  the  first 
real  labor  movement  in  America 1  —  a  movement  to  which  we  owe 
much  of  the  best  in  our  modern  life. 

546.  Later  organization  in  this  period  had  three  stages. 

First  each  important  trade  in  each  large  city  organized  its 
"  trade  association."  These  associations  were  local;  and  one 
trade  had  no  connection  with  another  of  the  same  city. 

But  in  1827  the  Journeymen  Carpenters'  association  in  Phil 
adelphia  struck  for  a  ten-hour  day.  The  struggle  was  a  stubborn 
one,  and  other  trade  associations  in  the  city  gave  sympathy  and 
some  help  to  the  carpenters.  The  strike  failed.  But  it  had 
taught  the  need  of  wider  union  among  workingmen  to  gain 
their  common  end ;  and  the  next  year  the  many  trade  associ 
ations  of  Philadelphia  federated  in  the  "  Mechanics '  Union  of 
Trade  Associations." 2 


1  Much  of  the  agitation  noticed  in  §§  539,  540  belongs  to  this  period. 

2  Terms  have  shifted.     The  appropriate  name,  Trades'  Union,  has  been  cor 
rupted  into  "  trade-union  "  for  the  name  of  the  association  of  workers  in  one 
trade  ;  and  consequently  the  more  general  union  has  had  to  seek  new  names, — 
such  as  Trades'  Assembly,  or  Trades'  Council. 


§  547]  AND   POLITICS  459 

This  second  stage  in  labor  organization  spread  swiftly.  New 
York  had  its  General  Trades'  Union  in  1831 l  and  the  like 
was  soon  true  of  the  remaining  large  cities.  Such  a  feder 
ation  held  considerable  authority  over  the  several  local  "  associ 
ations  "  which  composed  it.  It  usually  maintained  a  Trades' 
Union  hall,  with  courses  of  public  lectures  and  a  labor  paper, 
and  it  took  an  active  part  in  supporting  strikes  (when  approved 
by  it)  from  the  general  treasury  and  by  public  meetings. 

The  third  stage  came  in  1834,  when  the  various  city  Trades' 
Unions  organized  a  nationakfederation.  This  "  republic  of  labor  " 
held  conventions  in  1834,  1835,  1836,  and  1837  ;  but  the  organ 
ization  was  imperfect,  and  in  1837  it  was  ingulfed  in  the  indus 
trial  depression  that  followed  the  panic  (§  590). 

547.  Kecent  extension  of  the  franchise  had  made  voters 
out  of  the  mechanics  (§  563) ;  and,  from  the  first,  the  labor 
organizations  turned  to  political  activity.  On  August  11,  1828, 
the  Philadelphia  Trades'  Union,  at  a  public  meeting,  recom 
mended 

"  to  the  Mechanics  and  Working  Men  of  the  city  to  support  such  men  only 
for  the  City  Councils  and  State  Legislature,  as  shall  have  pledged  themselves 
.  .  .  to  support  the  interests  and  claims  of  the  Working  Classes." 

The  "  Delegates  of  the  Working  Men,"  accordingly,  sent  a  cir 
cular  letter  to  fourteen  candidates  for  the  legislature  "  to  obtain 
your  views  in  relation  to  the  following  subjects  :  — 

"  First.     An  equal  and  general  system  of  Education. 
"  Second.     The  banking  system,  and  all  other  exclusive  monopolies. 
"  Third.     Lotteries:  whether  a  total  abolishment  of  them  is  not  essential 
to  the  moral  as  well  as  to  the  pecuniary  interest  of  society."  2 

1  Growing  out  of  &  successful  carpenters'  strike  for  higher  wages,  a  contest  in 
which  the  carpenters  had  been  supported  actively  by  other  trades. 

2"  There  are  at  present,"  says  another  address  from  the  same  source  a  little 
later,  "  not  less  than  200  lottery  offices  in  Philadelphia,  and  as  many,  if  not 
more,  persons  engaged  in  hawking  tickets."  Special  complaint  is  directed  at 
these  "  itinerant  venders  "  who  "assail  the  poor  man  at  his  labor,  enter  the 
abode  of  the  needy,  and,  by  holding  out  false  promises  of  wealth,  induce  him 
to  hazard  his  little  all  in  the  demoralizing  system."  . 


460  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837          '[§  548 

Then,  after  a  strong  paragraph  expressing  the  special  interest 
of  the  working  class  in  the  first  question,  the  circular  con 
cludes  :  — 

"  If  your  views,  on  these  matters  should  be  in  accordance  with  those  we 
represent,  we  request  you  to  allow  us  to  place  your  name  upon  our  ticket.'1'' 

Soon  definite  Workingmen's  parties  appeared  in  various  local 
ities.  In  1830  in  New  York  a  "  Workingman's  party  "  nomi 
nated  a  State  ticket.  Its  candidate  for  governor  got  only  3000 
votes,  but  three  labor  candidates  were  chosen  to  the  legislature, 
and  Ely  Moore  (president  of  the  New  York  City  Trades' 
Union)  was  sent  to  Congress.  In  1834,  in  far-away  eastern 
Tennessee  a  labor  party  brought  the  tailor  Andrew  Johnson  into 
public  life  as  alderman  in  a  mountain  village.  And  a  Boston 
Convention  of  the  "New  England  Association  of  Farmers, 
Mechanics,  and  Other  Workinguien "  urged 

"  the  organization  of  the  whole  laboring  population"  in  order  to  revise 
"our  social  and  political  system,"  hoping  "to  imbue  .  .  .  our  offspring 
with  .  .  .  abhorrence  for  the  usurpation  of  aristocracy  ...  so  ...  that 
they  shall  dedicate  their  lives  to  a  completion  of  the  work  which  their 
ancestors  commenced  in  their  struggle  for  national,  and  their  sires  have 
continued  in  their  contest  for  personal,  independence." 

548.  No  national  labor  party  was  formed.  But  the  old  political 
parties  began  at  once  to  bid  eagerly  for  the  labor  vote,  and  bit 
by  bit,  much  of  its  program  was  placed  in  the  statute  books. 

In  New  York,  one  wing  of  the  new  Democratic  party  was 
especially  friendly.  This  was  the  "  Equal  Rights  "  party,  or 
the  Loco  Focos,  who,  like  the  labor  organizations,  opposed  all 
special  privileges  and  the  monopoly  of  the  United  States  Bank. 
In  1835  the  Loco  Focos  absorbed  bodily  the  Workingman's  party  in 
New  York  State. 

Soon  after,  the  labor  organizations  in  other  States  were  lost  in 
the  fully  developed  Democratic  party.  For  some  years  that  party 
remained  in  large  degree  a  workingman's  party.  When  it  surren 
dered  to  the  Slave  Power,  the  political  labor  movement  received 
a  fatal  blow.  The  remnants  of  the  labor  forces  made  a  leading 


§  550]  MAN   OR  THE   DOLLAR  ?  461 

element  in  the  various  Liberty  and  Free  Soil  parties  (§§  678, 
687  ft'.),  but  the  movement  for  a  distinct  labor  organization  did 
not  revive  until  after  the  Civil  War. 

549.  The  strikes  of  the  years  1825-1837  aimed:  (1)  to  raise 
wages  ;  (2)  to  secure  what  we  now  call  the  "  closed  shop  "  (i.e.  to 
compel  the  employment  of  union  labor  only,  to  the  exclusion 
of  non-union  men,  known  even  then  as  "  rats  "  and  "  scabs  ")  ; 
and  (3)  to  shorten  the  working-day  to  ten  hours. 

But,  in  its  political  action,  theWorkingman's  party  turned  away 
from  these  problems,  vital  as  they  were,  to  broader  social  reforms. 
They  sought  to  abolish  monopolies  and  lotteries  and  imprison 
ment  for  debt ; l  to  exempt  a  workingman's  home  and  tools  from 
seizure  for  debt ;  to  give  him  a  lien  on  his  work  for  his  wages  ; 
to  make  it  easier  for  him  to  get  a  home  out  of  the  public 
domain  ;  to  give  women  "  equal  rights  with  men  in  all  respects  " ; 
and  to  establish  a  noble  system  of  public  schools  —  far  ahead 
of  any  practice  in  that  day. 

The  closed-shop  principle  failed  when  the  unions  fell  in  the 
"  panic "  of  1837.  Eights  for  women,  too,  had  to  wait  long. 
The  other  demands  were  attained  fully  or  in  fair  measure. 
Some  of  them  deserve  a  few  words  more  (§§  550-552). 

550.  This  labor  movement  was  the  first  clear  demand  in  America 
that  society  should  put "  man  above  the  dollar."  Forty  years  before, 
the  makers  of  the  Constitution  agreed  that  the  end  of  govern 
ment  was  to  protect  property.     But  the  laborer  now  demanded, 
as  a  right,  that  the  rich  should  help  pay  for  his  children's  school 
ing  ;  that  his  person  should  no  longer  be  seized  for  debt,  nor 
his  means  of  livelihood ;  and  that,  when  a  creditor,  his  wages 
should  have  a  first  lien,  ahead  of  other  creditors'  claims. 

These  demands,  disregarding  the  old  "  rights  "  of  property, 
rested  on  the  broad  claim  that  they  aimed  to  advance  general 
human  ivelfare.  Many  good  people  called  them  communistic. 
But  modern  society  has  come  to  see  all  this  as  did  the  working- 
men  of  the  thirties.  The  laborer's  wages,  we  agree,  should 

1  McMaster  estimates  that  in  the  early  thirties  75,000  men  were  imprisoned 
for  debt  each  year. 


462  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837  [§  551 

have  preference  over  the  capitalist's  profits.  The  one  may  add 
to  the  graces  of  life  for  the  few :  the  other  means  life  itself,  and 
a  decent  standard  of  living,  for  the  many.  So  we  have  adopted 
this  part  of  the  early  labor  program. 

551.  The  demand  for  a  ten-hour  day,  in  place  of  the  inhuman 
dawn-to-dark  day,  was  long  resisted  by  the  employer  class  as 
though  it  would  overturn  all  social  order.  When  the  carpenter 
journeymen  of  Philadelphia  organized  in  1827  to  get  that 
shorter  day  (§  546),  the  employers  united  in  an  address  to  the 
public,  in  which  :  — 

(1)  They  complained  of  the  attempt  to  "deprive  employers  of  about 
one-fifth  part  of  their  usual  time"  ;  (2)  they  "regretted  "  the  formation  of 
"  a  society  that  has  a  tendency  to  subvert  good  order,  and  coerce  or  mislead 
those  who  have  been  industriously  pursuing  their  avocation  and  honestly 
maintaining  their  families  "  ;  and  (3)  they  declared  their  united  resolution 
not  to  "employ  any  Journeyman  who  will  not  give  his  time  and  labor  as 
usual,  in  as  much  as  we  believe  the  present  mode  has  not  been,  and  is  not 
now,  oppressive  to  the  workmen.""  l 

The  strike  failed,  as  did  several  others  in  Philadelphia  for 
the  same  purpose.  But  public  sympathy  was  won  for  the 
cause,  and  monster  petitions  began  to  pour  in  upon  the  city 
government  to  adopt  the  shorter  day  for  workingmen  employed 
for  the  city.  June  4)  1835,  the  city  council  yielded,  and  private 
concerns  slowly  followed  this  example. 

In  Baltimore,  the  same  year,  a  general  strike  established  the 
ten-hour  day  for  all  business,  public  and  private.  But,  in  the 
Boston  district,  three  great  strikes  for  this  object  were  crushed 
by  irresistible  combinations  of  capitalists  pledged  publicly  to 
force  their  employees  to  keep  the  old  "  dawn-to-dark  "  day. 

Success  there,  and  in  the  rest  of  the  country,  came  through  the 
example  of  the  Federal  government.  Van  Buren  (Jackson's 
successor)  had  been  closely  associated  with  the  New  York 

lrrhe  journeymen  replied  with  au  appeal  for  public  sympathy :  "Citizens 
of  Philadelphia,  to  you  we  appeal;  with  you  rests  the  ultimate  success  or 
failure  of  our  cause.  Willjyou  not  assist  us?  Remember  we  are  men  .  .  .  and 
say  will  you  combine  with  our  employers  to  force  us  to  be  slaves?  " 


§552] 


THE   FIGHT   FOR  FREE   SCHOOLS 


463 


Loco  Focos  (§  548)  ;  and  the  National  Convention  of  Trades' 
Unions  in  1836  brought  all  possible  pressure  to  bear  upon  him, 
during  his  campaign  for  the  Presidency.  In  1840,  as  President, 
Van  Buren  redeemed  his  promises.  He  issued  a  notable  order 
directing  a  ten-hour  day  in  the  navy  yards  and  in  all  "  public 
establishments "  of  the  government.  During  the  next  ten 
years  ten  hours  became  the  regular  labor  day  for  artisans  and 


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FACSIMILE  OF  TIME  CARD  OF  MACHINE  SHOP  IN  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  FOR 
1848.  From  Tarbell's  "  Golden  Rule  in  Business  "  in  the  American  Maga 
zine  for  April,  1915. 

factories  throughout  the  country,  though  in  some  districts, 
especially  in  New  England,  a  twelve-hour  day  remained  the 
rule  down  to  the  Civil  War. 

552.  Foremost  in  the  program  of  the  workingmen  stood  the 
demand  for  free  schools  supported  by  public  taxes  and  controlled 
by  the  public  will.  In  New  England  this  ancient  principle  of 
the  Puritans  had  been  largely  abandoned,  and  the  surviving 


464  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT,    1825-1837  [§  552 

public  schools  were  much  inferior  to  the  private  schools.  In 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  (outside  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg, 
and  Lancaster  County),  all  public  schools  were  pauper  schools  — 
cheap  private  enterprises  for  poor  children  only,  supported  by 
appropriations  from  the  county  boards. 

The  labor  unions  protested  indignantly  against  the  pauper 
school,  and  against  any  "  class "  school.  They  called  for  a 
"  general  and  equal  education  .  .  .  immediately  under  the  control 
and  suffrage  of  the  people,'7  not "  as  charity  .  .  .  but  as  of  right," 
"  for  every  child  in  the  State,  from  the  lowest  branch  of  the 
infant  school  to  the  lecture  rooms  of  practical  science."1 
They  anticipated  also  the  modern  demands  for  the  kindergarten 
and  for  industrial  training. 

Toward  this  call  for  free  schools  for  the  people,  the  capital 
istic  press  adopted  a  tone  of  condescending  reproof.  It  re 
minded  the  workers  that  more  education  was  already  attainable 
by  the  poor  in  America  than  anywhere  else.  Much  more  could 
never  be  expected.  "  The  peasant  must  labor  during  those  hours 
of  the  day  which  his  wealthy  neighbor  can  give  to  abstract 
culture :  otherwise  the  earth  would  not  yield  enough  for  the 
subsistence  of  all."  And  again,  "  Education  .  .  .  must  be  the 
work  of  individuals.  ...  If  a  government  concern,  nothing  could 
prevent  it  from  becoming  a  political  job."  Many  leading  papers 
reviled  the  idea  of  free  public  schools  as  "  Agrarianism "  or 
"  an  arbitrary  division  of  property."  And  one  editor  deplores 
the  taking  away  from  "  the  more  thriving  members "  of  the 
working  classes  "  one  of  their  chief  incitements  to  industry,  — 
the  hope  of  earning  the  means  of  educating  their  children." 
Indeed,  it  is  hard  to  find  any  of  the  hoary  arguments,  still 
furbished  anew  against  every  democratic  proposal,  which  was 
not  worn  threadbare  in  the  thirties  in  opposition  to  a  free- 
school  system. 


1  These  quoted  phrases  are  all  taken  from  two  of  many  reports  on  this 
matter  adopted  by  the  Mechanics'  Union  of  Philadelphia.  They  are  typical. 
More  detail  is  given  in  West's  American  History  and  Government. 


§  552]  THE   FIGHT  FOR  FREE   SCHOOLS  465 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  A  somewhat  fuller  account  of  the  Industrial 
Revolution  in  England  is  given  in  the  Modern  World,  §§  661-680.  Material 
for  the  industrial  conditions  in  America  was  not  accessible  in  any  suitable 
degree  until  the  recent  appearance  of  the  Documentary  History  of 
American  Industrial  Society  (§  540,  note,  above).  The  older  standard 
histories  are  therefore  all  lacking  in  this  matter.  Some  valuable  matter 
is  scattered  through  the  pages  of  Dodd's  Expansion  and  Conflict, — 
especially  pp.  39-51.  and  a  forceful  sketch  of  the  movement  is  given  in 
Simons'  Social  Forces  in  American  History,  179-190. 


CHAPTER   XLIX 
INTELLECTUAL  AND   SOCIAL  PROGRESS 

553.  THROUGHOUT  the  East,  we  have  noted,  elementary  public 
schools  were  lacking  or  poor.     Their  revival  was  owing  first  of 
all  to  the  persistent  demand  by  the  workingmen.     That  agita 
tion  prepared  the  ground  for  the  work  of  humanitarian  re 
formers  led  by  Horace  Mann.     Through  Mann's  efforts,  Massa 
chusetts  created  a  State  Board  of  Education  in  1837  and  es 
tablished  the  first  American  Normal  School  in  1839.     By  such 
forces,  a  good  system  of  "  common  schools  "  soon  spread  over 
the  Eastern  States. 

554.  Meantime  the  Northwest,  where  all  men  were  working- 
men,  was  setting  up,  on  paper  at  least,  a  complete  system  of  free 
public  education,  such  as  the  workingmen  of  the  East  were  vainly 
asking  for.     In  the  West,  elementary  schools  drew  some  help 
from  the  national  land  grant  in  the  Survey  Ordinance  (§  314), 
and   State   "universities"   were   founded    early   to    save   the 
national  grant  for  "  higher  institutions   of  learning "  (§  315). 
It  was  natural  therefore  for  the  West  to  try  to  link  primary 
school  and  university  by  public  "  high-schools,"  so  as  to  form 
a  complete  State  system.     The  constitution  of  Indiana  in  1816 
declared  it  the  duty  of  the  legislature  to  establish  "  a  general 
system  of  education,  ascending  in  regular  graduation  from  town 
ship  schools  to  a  State  University,  —  wherein  tuition  shall  be  gratis 
and  equally  open  to  all" 

In  practice,  however,  private  academies  made  the  chief  link 
between  elementary  schools  and  college  for  two  generations 
more.  Even  the  primary  schools  were  often  more  imposing  on 
paper  than  in  fact ;  and  in  many  States  the  land  grants  were 
wasted  or  stolen  by  incompetent  or  venal  politicians.  Still, 
by  1840,  public  schools  were  frequent  enough  in  the  Northwest, 

466 


§  556]  VICTORY  FOR  FREE  SCHOOLS  467 

as  in  the  Northeast,  so  that  a  poor  boy  with  ambition  and  self- 
denial  could  usually  get  at  least  "  a  common  school  education.'7 

555.  "  Higher  education  "  made  even  more  progress  than  did 
the  common  schools.     The  Western  "  universities  "  were  paper 
universities  for  some  time  more  ;  but  the  "  small  college  "  mul 
tiplied  in  numbers  and  grew  toward  high  standards  and  en 
larged    usefulness,    especially    in   the    Northeast.      Amherst, 
Bowdoin,  Dartmouth,  Hobart,  Williams,  in  that  section,  had 
multitudes  of  ambitious  imitators  in  the  Southern  and  North 
western   States.      Every  Southern  planter   sent  his  sons  to 
college,  as  a  matter  of  course,  —  very  often  to  the  larger  North 
ern   institutions.      In    proportion    to  the    White  population, 
therefore,  the  South  had  more  youth  in  college,  down  to  the 
Civil  War,  than  any  other  section. 

In  1830  Oberlin,  in  Ohio,  opened  its  doors  to  women.  No  other 
institution  of  equal  rank  did  so  for  twenty  years  more ;  but 
special  "  seminaries  "  for  girls  soon  appeared  in  large  numbers. 

556.  The  first  real  flowering  in  American  literature  came  just 
after  1830.     America's  only  earlier  distinction  in  letters  had 
been  in  political  oratory.      In  this  field,  from  1812  to  1830, 
Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun  sustained  the  best  traditions  of 
the  Revolutionary  days ;   and  those  same  years  saw  also  the 
early  work  of  Irving,  Cooper,  and  Bryant.     All  these  six  long 
continued  to  grow  in  fame  and  power.     And  now  between  1830 
and  1845,  began  the  public  career  of  Edward  Everett  in  oratory  ; 
of  Emerson,  Hawthorne,   Holmes,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Poe, 
and  Whittier  in  the   literature  of    creative    imagination  and 
spiritual  power ;  of  Bancroft,  Prescott,  Palfrey,  and  Sparks  in 
historical  composition ;  of  Kent  and  Story  in  legal  commentary  ; 
of  Audubon,  Agassiz,  Dana,  and  Asa  Gray  in  science.     Noah 
Webster's  Dictionary  was  published  in  1828 ;  ten  years  later, 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  was  founded ;   and,  midway  be 
tween,  appeared  the  first  penny  daily,  the  New  York  Sun. 

True,  this  splendid  outburst  was  confined  to  the  North  At 
lantic  section,  and  almost  wholly  to  the  New  England  district. 
It  soon  found,  however,  as  eager  an  appreciation  in  the  North- 


468  AMERICAN   LIFE   IN   1830  [§  557 

west  as  in  New  England  itself.  The  Southern  aristocracy  had 
little  sympathy  with  "  Yankee  "  literature,  tinged  as  most  of 
it  was  with  anti-slavery  sentiment,  but  clung  conservatively 
to  the  old  English  classics  and  to  such  moderns  as  Scott. 

557.  The  intellectual  ferment  of  the  thirties  and  forties  trans 
formed  society.  Exact  and  profound  scholarship  was  still  lack 
ing  ;  but  an  aspiration  for  knowledge,  a  hunger  for  culture,  a 
splendid  idealism,  became  characteristics  of  American  life,  — 
until  "  fattened  out,"  for  a  time  after  1875,  by  a  gross  material 
prosperity.  During  that  long  era,  to  welcome  "  high  thinking  " 
at  the  price  of  "  plain  living  "  was  instinctive  in  an  almost  un 
believably  large  portion  of  the  people. 

Ambitious  boys,  barefoot  and  in  thread  worn  coats,  thronged 
the  little  colleges,  not  for  four  years  of  a  good  time,  but  with  gen 
uine  passion  to  break  into  the  fairy  realm  of  knowledge ;  and 
their  hard-earned  dimes  that  did  not  have  to  go  for  plain  food 
went  for  books.1  English  authors  of  a  new  sort  of  genius  — 
Carlyle,  Browning,  William  Morris  —  as  well  as  English  scien 
tists  with  new  teachings,  like  Darwin  and  Huxley,  reached 
appreciative  audiences  in  America  sooner  than  at  home.2  Many 
an  English  book,  afterward  recognized  as  epoch-making,  found 
its  way  into  far  Western  villages,  and  into  the  hands  of  eager 
young  men  and  women  there  who  had  never  worn  evening  dress 

!In  1846  a  boy  of  eighteen  started  for  Knox  College,  at  Galesburg,  Illinois. 
By  working  as  a  farm  hand  (he  harvested  two  weeks  for  a  Virgil  and  a  Latin 
Dictionary),  and  by  teaching  school  for  a  few  months  (and  "  boarding  round  ") 
at  eight  dollars  a  month,  he  had  saved  up  ten  dollars.  He  walked  first  to 
Chicago,  the  nearest  town,  for  supplies  ;  but  the  unaccustomed  temptation  of 
the  display  in  a  bookstore  window  lured  him  within,  and  most  of  his  capital 
went  for  a  few  books,  which  would  seem  old-fashioned,  indeed,  to  the  boys  of 
to-day.  The  remaining  cash  bought  only  a  pair  of  shoes  and  an  Indian-blanket 
coat  (with  great  stripes  about  the  bottom).  To  save  the  precious  shoes,  he 
then  walked  the  two  hundred  miles  from  his  home  to  Galesburg  barefoot.  His 
first  day  there,  he  built  a  fence  for  the  President's  cow  pasture,  to  earn  money 
for  textbooks,  and  found  a  place  to  work  for  his  board  through  the  college 
year.  This  man  became  one  of  the  notable  builders  of  a  Western  common 
wealth. 

2  Carlyle's  long-delayed  income  from  his  books  came  first  from  reprints  in 
America,  managed  by  Emerson. 


§  557]  INTELLECTUAL  FERMENT  469 

or  eaten  a  course  dinner,  long  before  it  penetrated  to  even  the 
"  reading  set "  at  Oxford  University.1  The  North  American 
Review  and,  a  little  later,  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  periodicals  of 
fine  literary  tone,  could  be  seen  in  isolated  farmhouses  on 
Western  prairies. 

A  caricature  picturing  a  gaunt  New  England  housewife  on 
hands  and  knees  to  scrub,  but  pushing  before  her  a  stand  hold 
ing  an  open  copy  of  Emerson  to  which  her  eyes  were  glued, 
might  have  been  applied,  with  no  more  exaggeration,  to  show 
the  strenuous  struggle  for  culture  in  many  a  modest  home  in 
Kansas  or  Minnesota.  The  village  sewing  society  eschewed 
gossip  to  listen  to  one  of  their  number  reading  aloud  while  the 
others  plied  the  needle.  Each  village  had  its  lyceum,  for  the 
winter  evenings,  with  literary  programs,  —  readings,  declama 
tions,  and  debates  —  crude  and  quaint  enough,  sometimes,  but 
better  than  "  refined  vaudeville."  Such  villages,  too,  aspired 
to  frequent  courses  of  lectures,  —  with  such  eastern  celebrities 
as  Holmes  and  Everett  on  the  program  ;  and  often  the  proceeds 
of  the  lectures  were  used  to  start  a  village  library.2  Twice,  on 
such  lecture  tours,  Emerson  penetrated  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
greeted  in  barn-like  "  halls  "  by  hard-handed  men  and  women, 
seated  on  wooden  benches,  with  eager  faces  agleam  with  keen 
intellectual  delight. 

1  Before  1862,  W.  D.  Howells,  then  a  young   newspaper  writer  in  a  raw 
Western  town, counted  Browning  and  Thackeray  among  his  favorite  authors; 
but  Walter  Besant  mentions  in  his  Autobiography  that  these  authors  were 
not  then  known  to  his  set  at  Cambridge  University. 

2  In  1859  Edward  Everett  lectured  at  St.  Cloud,  a  new,  straggling  village  of 
a  hundred  houses,  in  Minnesota.    The  one-room  schoolhouse  in  which  he  spoke 
was  promptly  named  the  Everett  School ;  and  receipts  from  the  "  entertain 
ment  "  were  appropriated  for  a  library  which  was  kept  for  years  in  a  private 
home.    After  the  Civil  War,  a  Woman's  Aid  Society,  which  had  been  earning 
money  to  send  dainties  and  medicines  to  sick  soldiers,  continued  its  meetings 
and  used  its  money  to  enlarge  this  choice  collection  of  books.    There,  as  a  boy, 
the  writer  made  first  acquaintance  with  Carlyle,  Marcus  Aurelius,  standard 
histories  of  that  day,  such  as  Prescott's  Philip  II  and  Motley's  Rise  of  the 
Dutch  Republic,  and  the  novels  of  Scott,  George  Eliot,  and  Thackeray.    This 
experience  was  typical.    The  few  books,  purchased  by  real  book  lovers,  were 
not  yet  buried  in  a  mass  of  commonplace. 


470  THE   NEW  DEMOCRACY  OF   1830  [§  558 

558.  The  intellectual  and  moral  ferment  of  the  time  overflowed 
in  manifold  attempts  at  Utopias  set  off  from  ordinary  society. 
New  England  Transcendentalists  tried  a  cooperative  society  at 
Brook  Farm  (1841),  with  which  Emerson  and  Hawthorne  were 
connected.1     Robert  Owen,  who  had  already  attempted  a  model 
industrial  town  in  Scotland,  founded  New  Harmony  in  Indiana, 
where  labor  and  property  were  to  be  in  common.     Scores  of 
like  communities  were  soon  established  in  different  parts  of 
the  West ;  and  the  old  communistic  societies  of  the  "  Shakers  " 
spread  rapidly.     Said  Emerson,  with  genial  recognition  of  the 
humorous  side  of  the  upheaval,  "  Not  a  man  you  meet  but  has 
a  draft  of  a  new  community  in  his  pocket." 

559.  Peculiar  among  these  movements  was  Mormonism,  with  its  in 
stitution   of  polygamy.      Mormonism    was   founded    at  Palmyra,  New 
York,  in  1829,  by  Joseph  Smith,  who  claimed  to  be  a  prophet  and  to 
have  discovered  the  inspired  Book  of  Mormon.     Soon  the  "  Latter-Day 
Saints  "  removed  to  Ohio  ;  then  to  Missouri ;  and,  driven  thence  by  popu 
lar  hatred,  to  Illinois,  where,  in  1841,  they  established  at  Nauvoo  a  "Holy 
City  "  of  ten  thousand  people,  industrious  and  prosperous,  ruled  by  Smith 
after  the  fashion  of  an  ancient  Hebrew  "Judge."     Three  years  later,  a 
mob  from  surrounding  towns  broke  up  the   settlement  and   murdered 
Smith.     Then,  under  the  youthful  Brigham  Young,  the  persecuted  Mor 
mons  sought  refuge  in  Utah,  vaguely  supposed  to  be  a  part  of  Mexico,  but 
remote  from  any  organized  government  and  sheltered  from  "  civilization  " 
by  the  desert  and  the  Rockies.     Here  their  industry  made  the  cactus 
sands  to  bloom,  and  they  remained  in  peace  until  invaded  by  the  rush  of 
gold-seekers  to  California  after  '49. 

560.  More  effective  were  a  multitude  of  movements  for  social 
betterment    within    the    existing    community.       Massachusetts 
founded  the  first  public  hospital  for  the  insane;  and  Dorothy  Dix 
spent  a  noble   life   in   spreading   such  institutions   in  other 
States.     Special  schools  for  the  deaf  and  the  blind  were  insti 
tuted.     States  began  to  separate  juvenile  delinquents  from  har 
dened  criminals;  and  for  the  criminals  themselves  more  rational 
and  wholesome  prison  life  was  attempted.     Temperance  societies 

1  Hawthorne's  Blithedale  Romance  satirized  the  movement,  and  caricatured 
some  of  the  participants. 


§  531]  SOCIAL  REFORM  471 

began  in  Boston  in  1824  ;  and,  in  1846,  Maine  adopted  the  first 
State-wide  prohibition  law.  The  Abolition  movement  rose  and 
spread,  and  soon  the  agitation  against  slavery  became  the 
chief  manifestation  of  this  great  wave  of  moral  earnestness. 
The  thirties,  too,  saw  the  beginning  of  a  long  agitation  for 
Woman's  Mights,  including  coeducation,  equality  with  men  in 
inheriting  and  owning  property,  and  the  franchise.  To  these 
must  be  added  the  many  reforms  urged  especially  by  the  labor 
movement  (§  549). 

The  legal  position  of  woman  everywhere  in  America  was  still  regulated 
by  the  medieval  Common  law.  An  unmarried  woman's  earnings  and 
"  property1'  were  not  hers  (any  more  than  a  slave's  were  his),  but  be 
longed  legally  to  her  father.  A  married  woman's  property  (unless  pro 
tected  by  express  legal  settlement)  was  her  husband's,  and,  in  many  de 
grading  ways,  she  was  herself  his  chattel.  Statute  law  now  began  faint 
reform  of  some  of  these  evils. 

561.  Mechanical  invention  began  now  to  revolutionize  in 
dustry  and  life.  From  the  inauguration  of  Washington  to  the 
War  of  1812,  patents  for  new  inventions  averaged  less  than 
eighty  a  year.  From  1812  to  1820,  they  rose  to  nearly  two 
hundred  a  year,  and  in  1830  the  number  was  544.  Twenty 
years  later,  the  thousand  mark  was  passed,  and  in  1860,  the 
number  was  nearly  5000. 

These  inventions  mostly  saved  time  or  tended  to  make  life 
more  comfortable  or  more  attractive.  A  few  cases  only  can  be 
mentioned  from  the  bewildering  mass.  Axes,  scythes,  and 
other  edged  tools,  formerly  imported,  were  manufactured  at 
home.  The  McCormick  reaper  appeared  in  1831.  This  in 
vention,  with  its  improvements,  soon  multiplied  the  farmer's 
efficiency  in  the  harvest  field  by  twenty,  and,  with  the  general 
introduction  of  threshing  machines,  made  it  possible  for  our 
people  to  use  the  vast  grain  lands  of  the  Northwest.  Planing 
mills  created  a  new  industry  in  wood.  Colt's  "  Revolver " 
(1835)  replaced  the  one-shot  "pistol."  Iron  stoves  began  to 
rival  the  ancient  fireplace  for  cooking.  Friction  matches  (in 
vented  in  England  in  1827)  were  the  first  improvement  on 


472 


THE  NEW  DEMOCRACY  OF   1830 


[§  561 


prehistoric  methods  of  making  fire.  Illuminating  gas  for  city 
streets  improved  city  morals.  In  1838  the  English  Great 
Western,  with  screw  propeller  and  with  coal  to  heat  its  boilers, 
established  steam  navigation  across  the  Atlantic,  —  though  the 
bulk  of  ocean  freight  continued  long  to  be  carried  in  American 
sailing  ships.  The  same  year  saw  the  invention  of  the  steam 


HARVESTING  IN  1831.  McCormick's  first  successful  horse-reaper  The  "  self- 
binder  "  was  a  later  feature.  This  photograph,  based  upon  a  ' '  reconstruc 
tion,"  and  the  following  one  are  furnished  by  the  International  Harvester 
Company. 

hammer  and  the  successful  application  of  anthracite  coal  to 
smelting  iron.1  In  1839  a  Frenchman,  Daguerre,  began  photog 
raphy  with  his  "daguerreotypes,"  and  still  earlier  another 
French  chemist  had  found  how  to  can  foods.  In  1841  the 

1  Pittsburg  was  already  the  center  of  iron  manufactures  for  the  West.  Now 
its  neighborhood  to  both  anthracite  and  iron  made  it  a  center  of  this  great 
industry  for  the  whole  country. 


§  562]         INVENTIONS  REVOLUTIONIZE   LIFE  473 

anaesthetic  value  of  ether,  an  incomparable  boon  to  suffering 
humanity,  was  discovered  separately  by  Dr.  Morton  and  Dr. 
Jackson.  The  magnetic  telegraph,  invented  in  1835,  was  made 
effective  in  1844.  Howe's  sewing  machine  was  patented  in 
1846  ;  the  next  year  saw  the  first  rotary  printing  press. 

Except  as  otherwise  indicated,  all  these  inventions  were  by 
Americans.  In  1841  America  had  its  full  revenge  for  earlier 
British  disdain,  when  a  member  of  the  English  cabinet  de 
clared  in  parliament,  "I  apprehend  that  a  majority  of  the 


HARVESTING  TO-DAY.  A  Mogul  Kerosene  Tractor  pulling  two  McCormick 
reapers  and  binders  with  mechanical  shockers.  The  tractor  is  managed 
by  the  man  on  the  front  reaper.  Two  men  take  the  place  of  six  human 
beings  in  the  previous  cut  and  do  many  times  as  much  work. 

really  new  inventions  [lately  introduced  into  England]  have 
originated  abroad,  especially  in  America" 

562.  The  Railway  deserves  a  fuller  account.  Tramways 
(lines  of  wooden  rails  for  cars  drawn  by  horses1,  for  short 
distances)  came  into  use  in  some  American  cities  about  1807. 


474 


THE  NEW  DEMOCRACY  OF   1830 


[§562 


As  early  as  1811,  John  Stevens  began  twenty  years  of  fruitless 
efforts  to  interest  capital  in  his  dream  of  a  steam  railway.  In 
1814,  in  England,  George  Stephenson  completed  a  locomotive, 
which  found  employment  in  hauling  coal  on  short  tracks  ;  but 
no  railway  of  consequence  for  passenger  traffic  was  opened 
there  until  about  1830.  After  1825,  the  question  was  much 
agitated  in  America ;  and  July  4,  1828,  the  aged  Charles  Car 
roll,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  drove  the 
golden  spike  that  marked  the  beginning  of  the  Baltimore  and 


THE  "DfiWiTT  CLINTON,"  the  first  railroad  locomotive  that  ran  in  New 
York.  It  made  its  first  trip,  August  9,  1831,  from  Albany  to  Schenectady. 
From  a  photograph  of  a  "  restoration." 

Ohio.  The  same  year  witnessed  a  score  of  charters  to  pro 
jected  lines ;  but  construction  was  slow,  from  lack  of  expe 
rience  and  materials,  and  especially  from  lack  of  engineers  to 
survey  and  construct  roadbeds ;  and  it  was  still  thought  com 
monly  that  about  the  only  advantage  for  railroads  over  canals 
would  lie  in  the  freedom  from  interruption  by  ice  in  winter. 

In  1830  less  than  thirty  miles  of  track  were  in  use,' — and 
this  only  for  "  coaches  "  drawn  by  horses ;  but  in  1840  nearly 
three  thousand  miles  were  in  operation,  and,  for  long  there 
after,  the  mileage  doubled  each  five  years.  The  early  rails 


§  562]  THE  RAILROAD  475 

were  of  wood,  protected  from  wear  by  a  covering  of  wrought- 
iron  "  straps,"  perhaps  half  an  inch  thick,  which  had  the  awk 
ward  habit  of  curling  up  at  a  loosened  end.  The  "  coaches  " 
imitated  the  shape  of  the  stagecoach;  but  finally  a  form 
more  adapted  to  the  new  uses  was  devised.  The  rate  of  prog 
ress  on  the  first  roads  rose  to  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  —  some 
thing  quite  beyond  previous  imagination.  By  1850,  the  rail 
road  had  begun  to  outrun  settlement,  forging  ahead  into  the  wil 
derness,  "  to  sow  with  towns  the  prairies  broad,"  and  to  create 
the  demand  for  transportation  which  was  to  feed  it  (§  703 
and  map). 

It  was  natural  to  treat  the  railway  like  any  other  improved 
road  or  public  highway,  so  far  as  conditions  would  permit. 
Some  States,  at  first,  permitted  any  one  to  run  cars  over  a  line  by 
paying  proper  tolls.  But,  in  the  absence  of  scientific  system 
and  of  telegraphic  train-dispatching,  so  many  accidents  occurred, 
that  this  plan  was  given  up.1  Then  roadbed  and  train  fell  to 
one  ownership. 

It  remained  to  decide  whether  that  owner  should  be  the  pub 
lic  or  a  private  corporation.  Several  States  tried  State  owner 
ship,  as  with  canals  (Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Michigan, 
Georgia) ;  but  lines  ran  from  State  to  State  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  this  practically  impossible.  No  one  in  that  day  suggested 
that  the  nation  should  own  and  operate  railroads  ;  and  so  these 
tremendously  powerful  forces  were  abandoned  to  private  cor 
porations.2  Congress,  however,  has  many  times  encouraged  such 
corporations  by  immense  grants  of  public  lands  along  a  pro 
posed  line  in  a  "  Territory,"  as  State  legislatures  have  done 
within  State  borders.  Unhappily,  such  grants  have  often  been 
made  carelessly,  if  not  corruptly,  without  proper  security  for 
adequate  return  to  the  public  welfare. 

1 "  Single-tax  "  reformers  believe  that  this  plan  should  be  reintroduced  un 
der  the  improved  conditions  of  to-day. 

2  Usually  known  to-day  as  "public-service"  corporations  (along  with  city 
gas  companies,  electric  lighting  companies,  etc.)  because  they  can  exist  only  by 
grants  of  right-of-way  and  other  privileges  from  the  public,  in  return  for 
expected  services  to  the  public. 


CHAPTER  L 

THE   "REVOLUTION   OF   1828" 

563.  The  victory  of  Jackson  in  the  Nation  was  a  sign  and  a 
result  of  a  democratic  victory  that  unknown  men  had  been  winning 
in  the  States.     It  was  possible  only  because  of  a  recent  rapid 
extension  of  manhood  suffrage.     At  Washington's  election  man 
hood  suffrage  was  found  in  none  of  the  thirteen  States.     At 
Jefferson's  election  it  was  practiced  in  only  Kentucky  and  Ver 
mont  out  of  the  sixteen  States.     By  1824  it  was  established  in 
ten  of  the  twenty-four  commonwealths,  and  five  others  had 
removed  all  but  nominal  restrictions  upon  it. 

Between  1792  and  1821,  eleven  new  States  had  been  admitted.  Ten 
nessee  had  an  ineffective  restriction  on  the  franchise  (removed  in  a  new 
constitution  in  1833);  Ohio  at  first  required  payment  of  taxes  as  a  qualifi 
cation  for  voting ;  and  Mississippi  required  either  that  or  service  in  the 
militia.  The  other  eight  new  states  came  in  with  manhood  suffrage.  Four 
of  the  older  States  also  had  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  progressive 
West :  Maryland  adopted  manhood  suffrage  in  1810 ;  Connecticut,  in  1818 ; 
in  1821,  Massachusetts  and  New  York  reduced  their  former  qualifications  to 
tax  payment  or  militia  service,  and  in  1826  New  York  removed  even  this 
restriction. 

564.  These  reforms  had  been  carried  against  vehement  protest 
by  the  elder  statesmen.     The  aged  John  Adams  and  the  stalwart 
Webster  made  stubborn  resistance  in  Massachusetts.     In  New 
York,  Chancellor  Kent,  a  great  lawyer  and  a  noble  man,  pleaded 
with  the  constitutional  convention  not  to  "  carry   desolation 
through  all  the  fabric  erected  by  our  fathers,"  or  "  put  forth 
to  the  world  a  constitution  such  as  will  merit  the  scorn  of  the 
wise  and  the  tears  of  the  patriot."     In  Virginia  (1830),  only  a 
slight  gain  was  made,  because  of  the  opposition  of  Marshall, 
Madison,  and  Randolph, — ancient  foes,  who  joined  hands  to 
shut  out  80,000  White  citizens  from  the  vote. 

476 


§  566]  CHANGES  IN  POLITICS  477 

Everywhere  but  in  the  West,  leadership  in  the  old  party 
of  Jefferson  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  aristocrats.  With 
striking  unanimity,  North  and  South,  such  leaders  now  pub 
licly  denounced  the  war  cry  of  Jackson  —  "Let  the  people 
rule  "  —  as  ominous  of  the  "  tyranny  of  mere  numbers  "  and 
"  destructive  of  the  checks  and  balances  of  the  Constitution." 1 
In  the  Federal  presidency  itself,  Monroe  and  Adams  had 
brought  back  the  pomp  and  ceremonial  against  which  Jefferson 
had  contended. 

565.  The  election  of  Jackson  then,  even  more  than  that  of 
Jefferson,    marks  a  true  "revolution"    in    American    society. 
Again  a  new  generation  had  come  upon  the  stage  —  and  indeed 
upon  a  new  stage.     The  victory  of  Jackson  was  the  victory  of 
the  new  West  over  the  old  East ;  and  in  the  East  itself  it  was 
the  victory  of  the  newly  awakened  labor  class.     Everywhere 
it  was   the   victory   of  a  new   radical  democracy,  untrained, 
led  by  "  men  of  the  people,"   over  the  moderate  democracy 
of  Jefferson,  led  by  trained,  leisured,  cultured  "  gentlemen."  2 

Jeffersonian  democracy  had  feared  government :  Jacksonian 
democracy  was  eager  to  use  it.  The  old  democracy  had  taught 
that  the  people  should  be  governed  as  little  as  possible :  the 
new  democracy  taught  that  the  people  might  govern  as  much 
as  they  liked.  More,  —  drunk  with  its  victory,  democracy 
began  to  insist  not  merely  that  majorities  ought  to  be  supreme, 
as  the  best  policy,  but  even  that  majorities  were  always  right : 
" vox populi,  vox  Dei" 

566 .  The  wider  suffrage  after  1 825  brought  other  political  changes. 
(1)    TJie  franchise  was  used  more  directly.     In  an  increasing 

number  of  States,  the  governors  and  judges  were  chosen  by 
the  people  instead  of  by  the  legislatures.  So,  too,  of  presi 
dential  electors:  in  1800  ten  States  of  the  sixteen  chose 


1  Dodd's  Expansion  and  Conflict,  11,  gives  some  illustrations. 

2  To  compare  the  exterior  of  Abraham  Lincoln  (frontispiece),  and  the  log 
cabin  in  which  he  was  born  (page  419) ,  with  the  portrait  of  Jefferson  on 
page  426  and  the  photograph  of  Monticello  on  page  411,  is  to  glimpse  some  of 
the  contrast  between  Jeffersonian  and  Jacksonian  democracy. 


478  JACKSONIAN  DEMOCRACY  [§  56*3 

electors  by  legislatures ;  in  1828  only  two  of  the  twenty-four 
did  so,  and  after  that  the  only  State  to  continue  the  practice 
was  South  Carolina. 

(2)  The  presidency  gained  power.     It  was  no  longer  filled, 
even  in  theory,  by  a  select  coterie.     Jackson's  friends  liked  to 
call  their  leader   "the  chosen  Tribune  of  the  people."     The 
Nation  found  it  easier  to  express  its  will  in  choosing  one  man 
than  in  choosing  a  Congress  in  hundreds  of  local  units,  often 
largely  upon  local  issues. 

(3)  The  two  matters  just  mentioned  combined  to  bring  out 
a  larger  vote.     The  election  of  1789  was  fiercely  contested  in 
New  York,  but  only  one  vote  was  cast  for  every  27  inhabitants. 
In  1828  that  State  cast  a  vote   for   every   six   inhabitants. 
Pennsylvania  cast  47,000  votes  in  1824,  but  150,000  in  1828. 
In  Massachusetts  only  one  man  in  19  went  to   the  polls  in 
1824 ;  but  after  1828  the  proportion  was  rarely  under  1  in  8. 

(4)  Property  qualifications  for  office  disappeared  rapidly. 

(5)  Test  oaths  were  abolished,  so  that   Jews  and  Catholics 
could  hold  office. 

(6)  The  union  of  State  and  Church  in  Connecticut  and  Mas 
sachusetts  (§  269)  was  overthrown. 

(7)  This    greater    democracy    in    politics    brought    social 
changes  also.      After  the  extension   of   the  suffrage   in   Con 
necticut  in  1818,  public  officers  ceased  to  wear  cockaded  hats, 
powdered  wigs,  or  knee-breeches  and  silk  stockings. 

567.  Andrew  Jackson  dominated  America  for  twelve  years 
(1829-1841),  for  his  control  reached  over  into  the  adminis 
tration  of  his  successor  and  political  heir,  Van  Buren.  He 
was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  his  boyhood  had  been  passed 
in  the  backwoods  of  North  Carolina,  in  bare  poverty.  Picking 
up  some  necessary  scraps  of  knowledge,  he  removed  to  the 
newer  frontier  of  Tennessee  to  practice  law.  He  was  a  natural 
leader;  and  his  incisiveness  and  aggressiveness  forced  him  to 
the  front.  In  1797  Tennessee  sent  him  as  her  first  Repre 
sentative  to  Congress,  —  for  which  life  at  that  time  he  seems 
to  have  been  little  fitted.  Gallatin  noticed  him  only  for  his 


§567] 


ANDREW  JACKSON 


479 


uncouth  dress  and  manner,  —  unkempt  hair  tied  in  an  eel-skin 
cue,  —  and  Jefferson  was  disgusted  by  the  "passion"  that 
"  choked  his  utterance." 

Soon,  however,  Jackson  found  his  place  as  military  leader 
and  Indian  fighter ;  and  he  came  back  to  political  leadership 
as  a  more  imposing  figure,  —  the  natural  spokesman  of  Western 
democracy.  "  Old  Hickory "  remained  spare  in  person,  with 
the  active  and  abstemious  living  of  the  frontier.  His  hair  was 


"CLAR  DE  KITCHEN,"  a  contemporary  cartoon  caricaturing  Jackson's  treat 
ment  of  his  cabinet  and  friends  when  they  differed  from  him.  The  faces 
are  all  portraits.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  Library  of  Congress. 

now  a  silvered  mane.  His  manner  was  marked  by  a  stately 
dignity  and,  toward  all  women,  by  true  courtliness.  Beneath 
this  exterior,  he  remained  as  pugnacious  and  fearless  and  self- 
confident  as  ever ;  apt  to  jump  to  conclusions  and  stubborn  in 
clinging  to  them  ; l  sure  of  his  own  good  intentions,  and,  with 
somewhat  less  reason,  of  his  good  judgment;  trusting  his 

1  A  choice  bit  of  contemporary  satire  makes  him  say,  "  It  has  always  bin 
my  way,  when  I  git  a  notion,  to  stick  to  it  till  it  dies  a  natural  death  ;  and  the 
more  folks  talk  agin  my  notions,  the  more  I  stick  to  'em." 


480  JACKSONIAN  DEMOCRACY  [§  508 

friends  (not  always  wisely  chosen}  as  himself ;  and  moved  by 
an  unconscious  vanity  that  made  it  easy  for  shrewd  men  to 
play  upon  him ;  but,  withal,  with  sound  democratic  instincts, 
hating  monopoly  and  distrusting  commercial  greed  and  all 
appeals  from  it  for  alliance  with  the  government,  and  believing 
devotedly  in  the  "  sovereignty  of  the  people,'7  a  sovereign  who 
"  could  do  no  wrong."  As  President  he  felt  himself  to  be  the 
embodiment  of  the  Nation's  will ;  and  he  seized  a  masterful 
control  of  Congress  so  successfully  and  imposingly  that  all 
Presidents  since  have  felt  themselves  possessed  of  rightful 
power  never  claimed  by  Washington  or  Jefferson. 

One  symbol  of  the  new  power  of  the  President  was  the  growth  of  the  veto. 
The  preceding  six  Presidents  together  had  vetoed  nine  bills  —  all  on  con 
stitutional  grounds  •  Jackson  hailed  twelve  vetoes  on  the  astounded  Con 
gress  to  control  general  policy,  besides  using  freely  the  "pocket  veto" 
which  was  permitted  by  the  Constitution  but  which  no  former  President 
had  used. 

568.  The  first  and  main  fault  of  the  new  democracy,  and  of  its 
chief,  was  the  degradation  of  the  civil  service.  Since  Jefferson's 
election,  there  had  been  no  change  of  party,  and,  until  1824,  no 
factional  contest  within  the  dominant  party.  Accordingly, 
there  had  been  no  occasion  for  sweeping  changes  among  office 
holders.  In  1820  Senator  Crawford  of  Georgia  had  secured  a 
"  four-year  tenure-of-ofnce  bill,"  providing  that  a  great  number 
of  offices  should  thereafter  always  become  vacant  four  years 
after  appointment.  But  Adams,  with  high-minded  dignity, 
refused  to  take  advantage  of  this  legal  opportunity  to  punish 
adversaries  and  hire  supporters.  Instead,  he  reappointed  all 
fit  officials  affected  by  the  law,  and  made  altogether  only  twelve 
removals  during  his  term.  The  law  remained,  however,  a  keen 
weapon  for  less  scrupulous  men. 

Jackson,  indeed,  needed  no  new  weapon :  the  powers  of  the 
President  under  the  Constitution  were  enough  for  him.  His 
enemies  were,  to  his  mind,  the  Nation's  enemies ;  and  he  was 
controlled  by  friends  who  brazenly  proclaimed  the  doctrine, 
"  To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils  of  the  enemy." 


§  569]  THE  SPOILS  SYSTEM  481 

Jackson  men  from  distant  States  hastened  to  the  Capital  to 
attend  the  inauguration  and  press  claims  to  appointments. 
Never  had  Washington  seen  such  a  horde  of  hungry  politi 
cians.1  In  the  preceding  forty  years  of  the  government,  there 
had  been  less  than  two  hundred  removals  from  office  for  all 
causes.  In  his  first  year,  Jackson  made  two  thousand.  But 
this  was  far  too  moderate  to  content  the  multitude.  The  policy 
of  spoils  was  the  Nation's  blunder,  not  merely  the  President's ; 
and  the  Nation  was  to  be  shackled  by  it  for  more  than  a  gen 
eration.2  At  the  moment  it  resulted  in  widespread  inefficiency 
and  in  many  scandalous  cases  of  corruption  —  to  all  of  which 
Jackson  held  himself  stubbornly  indifferent.  His  successor 
reaped  the  whirlwind.  In  1837  (Van  Buren's  first  year)  the 
collector  of  the  New  York  Customs  defaulted  in  the  sum  of 
a  million  dollars  and,  together,  64  of  the  67  land  officers  stole 
a  million  more. 

569.  The  enlarged  vote  called  for  new  political  machinery. 
Each  party  created  a  hierarchy  of  permanent  committees  to  man 
age  its  interests.  From  a  National  Committee  there  radiated 
downward  the  many  State  Committees.  From  each  of  these 
branched  the  committees  for  the  counties  and  Congressional 
districts  of  the  State ;  and  from  these,  the  committees  for  the 
precincts  in  the  smallest  voting  units. 

Tliis  committee  system  was  soon  interwoven  with  a  convention 
system.  The  division  into  parties  had  made  it  advisable  to  agree 
upon  candidates  for  President  in  advance  of  the  campaign,  — 
something  never  contemplated,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  Consti- 

1  McMaster  (V,  521  if.)  gives  a  graphic  picture.  There  is  a  briefer  but  more 
caustic  one  in  McLaughlin's  Cass  (136,  137)  :  "The  scrambling,  punch-drink 
ing  mob  which  invaded  Washington  at  the  inauguration,  crowding  and  push 
ing  into  the  White  House,  tipping  over  tubs  of  punch  and  buckets  of  ices, 
standing  with  muddy,  hobnailed  shoes  on  the  damask  furniture,  thrusting 
themselves  into  the  nooks  and  corners  of  the  executive  mansion  with  the  air 
of  copartners,  who  at  last  had  an  opportunity  to  take  account  of  the  assets  of 
the  firm.  .  .  ." 

2 The  "spoils  system  "  came  into  force  in  some  States,  notably  in  New  York, 
sooner  than  in  the  Nation  at  large ;  and  it  has  persisted  longer  as  a  serious  ob 
stacle  to  reform  in  city  and  State  even  than  in  the  National  government. 


482  JACKSONIAN  DEMOCRACY  [§  570 

tution.  For  a  while  this  was  accomplished  by  the  Congressional 
caucus  (§  389).  But  at  such  a  caucus  the  members  were  Con' 
gressmen  who  had  been  chosen  two  years  before,  on  wholly 
different  issues.  Men  resented  it  that  such  uncommissioned 
"  representatives  "  should  presume  to  speak  for  the  party  on 
this  vital  matter,  and  the  repute  of  "  aristocratic  King  Caucus  " 
had  been  dissipated  finally  in  the  campaign  of  1824  (§  517). 
The  same  causes  which  discredited  the  Congressional  caucus 
for  the  Nation  had  also  discredited  legislative  caucuses  for 
nominating  State  officers  ;  and  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
had  devised  State  Conventions,  chosen  in  party  gatherings  in 
the  various  election  districts.  This  step  was  extended  to  the 
Nation  at  large  in  the  campaign  of  1832. 

570.  For  the  next  three  quarters  of  a  century,  this  machinery 
worked  in  the  following  way.     The  National  Convention  of  a 
party    (1)    nominated    candidates    for    President   and    Vice 
President ;    (2)    adopted   a   statement   of   principles    ("  plat 
form,"    on   which    the    candidate    was    to   stand) ;    and    (3) 
appointed   a  new  National   Committee,  —  one   member   from 
each   State  and   Territory.     Some  months  in  advance  of  the 
next  presidential   election,  this  committee  issued  a   call  for 
a  new  National  Convention  of  its  party.     Below  the  National 
Committee  were  State,  County,  Town,  and  Precinct  commit 
tees,  each  chosen  by  party  gatherings  or  conventions.     During 
the  campaign  the  National  Committee  collected  funds,  secured 
and  distributed   campaign  literature,  and  sent  speakers  and 
money  to  the  critical  States,  to  be  used  as  the  State  Com 
mittees  should  direct. 

571.  This  complex  machinery  called  for  an  immense  body  of 
workers,  —  "more  people,"  said  a  competent. authority  twenty 
years  ago,  "  than  all  the  other  political  machinery  in  the  world." 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  its  development  should  have 
gone  along  with  the  appearance  of  the  spoils  system  (§  568),  to 
pay  the  necessary  recruits. 

Quite   as   naturally  the  new  machinery  created  "bosses,"  to 
direct  it.     In  theory,  the  political  machinery  was  to  repre- 


§  572]  "  SPOILS  "  AND   "  BOSSES  "  483 

sent  the  people's  will.  In  practice,  among  a  busy,  optimistic 
people,  it  was  admirably  fitted  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  "  pro 
fessionals."  For  half  a  century,  while  the  system  was  at 
its  worst,  the  average  citizen  (unless  with  an  "  ax  to  grind  ") 
largely  withdrew  from  all  political  duties,  except  that  of 
voting  for  the  names  put  before  him.  Officeholders  of  various 
grades  managed  the  committees  of  the  party  in  power;  and 
expectants  for  office  managed  those  of  the  other  party.  Such 
conditions  gave  a  low  tone  to  politics.  A  campaign,  to  the 
most  active  participants,  was  dangerously  like  a  struggle  for 
mere  personal  preferment. 

"Ward  heelers  "  and  the  lowest  grade  of  active  workers,  taking  orders 
from  a  city  boss,  managed  ward  and  precinct  primaries.  The  pro 
fessionals  were  often  the  only  voters  to  appear;  and  if  other  citizens 
came,  they  found  the  chairman,  judges,  and  printed  tickets  all  arranged 
for  them  by  the  "  machine."  The  managers  were  usually  unscrupulous 
players  of  the  game,  and,  at  a  pinch,  did  not  hesitate  to  "pack"  a 
meeting  in  order  to  secure  the  election  of  their  delegates.  Arrived  at 
State  or  county  convention,  such  delegates,  with  disciplined  obedi 
ence,  put  through  the  "slate"  drawn  up  in  advance  by  the  bigger 
bosses, — who  commonly  had  arranged  all  details  with  a  nicety  and 
precision  found  until  recently  in  few  lines  of  business. 

The  big  boss  was  not  always  an  officeholder.  His  profit  often  came  in 
indirect  ways  and  sometimes  in  corrupt  ways.  Corporations  wishing 
favors  or  needing  protection  against  unfair  treatment  were  willing  to  pay 
liberally  the  man  who  could  secure  their  will  for  them.  Often  the  bosses 
of  opposing  parties  in  a  State  have  had  a  perfect  understanding  with  each 
other,  working  together  behind  the  scenes  and  dividing  the  plunder. 

572.  The  President's  "  patronage  "  gained  new  importance  from 
this  "  boss "  system.  It  soon  became  the  rule  for  him  to 
nominate  postmasters  and  other  Federal  officeholders  only  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  congressman  of  the  district,  if  he 
were  of  the  President's  party,  or  of  the  "  boss  "  who  expected 
to  become  or  to  make  a  congressman.  The  congressman  uses 
this  control  over  Federal  patronage  to  build  up  a  personal 
machine,  so  as  to  insure  support  for  his  reelection.  And  the 
practice  gives  a  powerful  weapon  to  a  strong  President,  who  is 


484 


JACKSONIAN  DEMOCRACY 


[§573 


often  able  to  coerce  reluctant  congressmen  into  being  "good" 
by  threatening  not  to  approve  their  recommendations. 

573.  Famous  among  the  tricks  of  the  game,  as  professional 
politicians  came  to  play  it,  was  the  gerrymander.  It  is 
the  custom  to  choose  congressmen  by  districts.  A  State, 
therefore,  is  partitioned  by  its  legislature  into  as  many  con 
gressional  districts  as  it  has  congressmen.  Frequently,  the 
party  in  power  shapes  these  districts  with  shameful  unfair 
ness.  If  it  cannot  control  them  all  for  itself,  it  can -usually 
pack  hostile  majorities  into  two  or  three  of  many  districts, 
leaving  the  rest  "  safe  " ;  or  it  can  add  a  strongly  favorable 
county  to  a  doubtful  district.  State  constitutions  usually 

require  that  a  county  shall 
not  be  divided  (unless  of 
itself  it  makes  more  than 
one  district)  and  that  each 
district  must  be  made  up 
of  "  contiguous  territory." 
But  such  restrictions 
amount  to  little  in  the  ab 
sence  of  popular  opinion  to 
resent  and  punish  trickery. 

The  first  notorious  use  of  this 
device  was  in  Massachusetts  in 
1812.  The  Republicans  were  in 
power,  but  could  not  hope  to 
retain  it  against  Federalist  feel 
ing  regarding  the  War.  To  keep 
a  part,  the  legislature,  with  the 
approval  of  Governor  Gerry, 

constructed  a  congressional  district  of  atrocious  unfairness.  A  Federalist 
editor  drew  a  map  of  this  and  hung  it  over  his  desk,  to  feed  his  wrath. 
Gilbert  Stuart,  the  famous  painter,  noticed  the  monstrosity  one  day,  and 
with  ready  pencil  added  wings  and  claws,  exclaiming,  "There's  your 
salamander  !"  "Better  say  Gerrymander,"  growled  the  editor,  a  bitter 
hater  of  Governor  Gerry ;  and  the  uncouth  name  passed  into  current  use. 


STUART'S  DRAWING  OF  THE  ORIGINAL 
"GERRYMANDER,"  used  in  1813  as 
part  of  an  anti-Gerry  handbill. 


CHAPTER   LI 

THE  JACKSON  PERIOD,  1829-1841 

574.  JACKSON  had  two  thirds  of  the  electoral  votes,  every  one 
south  of  the  Potomac  and  west  of  the  Appalachians,  together 
with  those  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.1     The  question  for 
his  opponents  was  whether  the  alliance  of  West  and  South  could  be 
broken.     Those  two  sections  were  still  united  against  the  cap 
italistic  East  by  their  bitterness   toward   the   Bank  and  the 
Supreme  Court ;  but  neither  Bank  nor  Court  at  this  time  was 
in   "  practical   politics."      The  pressing   problems   concerned 
protection,  nullification,  and  the  public  lands. 

The  North  Atlantic  section  insisted  on  a  continuance  of  high 
protection,  and  (under  the  old  apportionment  of  1820)  it  still 
had  a  powerful  vote  in  Congress.  But  in  the  South,  college 
boys  formed  associations  to  wear  homespun,  as  a  protest 
against  the  Northern  manufactures  ;  and  during  1828-1829 
every  legislature  from  Virginia  to  Mississippi  had  declared 
for  secession  or  nullification  if  the  tariff  policy  were  not  radi 
cally  changed.  (Review  §§  506-511.) 

The  West,  not  very  insistent  either  way  on  the  tariff,2  was 
devoted  to  the  Union,  which  the  South  threatened  ;  but,  in 
opposition  to  the  East,  it  was  even  more  devoted  to  securing  a 
freer,  public  land  policy,  to  attract  new  settlers  and  to  protect 
old  settlers  against  tribute  to  Eastern  speculators. 

575.  This   land   reform  was   championed  in  Congress   es 
pecially  by  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Senator  from  Missouri  (§  503), 
and  the  devoted  follower  of  Jackson.     The  other  great  leaders 
of  the  time  were  the  trio  Calhoun,  Webster,  and  Clay,  who  had 
filled  the  public  eye  since  1816. 

1  These  two  manufacturing  States  the  labor  vote  carried  for  Jackson. 

2  The  tariff  favored  wool  and  some  other  raw  products  of  the  West. 

485 


486 


JACKSONIAN   DEMOCRACY 


[§575 


Calhoun,  of  strict  Calvinistic  training,  keen  in  logic,  austere 
in  morals,  was  no  longer  the  ardent  young  enthusiast  for 
nationality  that  he  had  been  just  before  and  after  the  War  of 
1812.  He  had  reversed  his  stand  on  the  tariff,  to  go  with  his 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OF  11828 


section.  He  was  the  chief  spokesman  of  the  planters,  and  the 
most  powerful  advocate  of  the  right  of  nullification.  He  still 
loved  the  Union,  but  he  believed  it  could  be  preserved  only  by 
making  it  elastic  enough  so  that  the  States  might  nullify 
Federal  laws. 


§  576]  CALHOUN,   WEBSTER,   CLAY  487 

Webster  was  a  majestic  intellect  and  a  master  in  oratory. 
He,  too,  had  reversed  his  stand  both  on  the  tariff  and  the  Bank, 
to  go  with  his  section.  He  was  the  leading  champion  in  Con 
gress  of  the  manufacturing  capitalists ;  and,  from  an  advocate 
of  States  Bights  in  the  War  of  1812,  be  had  become  the  great 
defender  of  the  Union. 

Clay,  impetuous,  versatile,  winning,  was  the  only  one  of  the 
three  who  still  held  his  old  positions  on  leading  questions. 
Until  1820  he  had  been  absolutely  supreme  in  the  West. 
After  that  time  he  had  lost  influence  because  of  his  support  of 
the  Bank ;  and  his  alliance  with  Adams  in  1824  had  still 
further  undermined  his  popularity.  However,  he  remained  the 
only  leader  who  could  at  all  withstand  Jackson  in  his  own 
section ;  and  not  even  Jackson  won  such  devoted  personal  en 
thusiasm. 

576.  The  National  Bank,  like  its  predecessor  of  1791,  was  a 
huge  monopoly  —  one  of  the  two  or  three  greatest  money  monop 
olies  in  the  world  at  that  time.  It  had  special  privileges  not 
open  to  other  individuals  or  corporations.1  It  had  vast  power, 
too,  over  State  Banks'  and  over  the  business  of  the  country :  at 
a  word  it  could  contract  the  currency  in  circulation  by  a  third. 
The  Bank  had  used  its  tremendous  power  for  the  advantage  of 
the  country  in  ways  that  Jackson  could  not  appreciate ;  but  at 
any  time  it  might  use  its  power  in  politics,  —  and  Jackson  felt 
this  danger  vividly. 

The  Bank's  charter  was  not  to  expire  until  1836,  and  Jackson's 
term  ended  in  1833;  but  in  his  first  message  to  Congress 
(December,  1829)  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  within  a 
few  years  the  Bank  must  ask  for  a  new  charter,  and  asserted 
that  "  both  the  constitutionality  and  the  expediency "  of  the 
institution  were  "questioned  by  a  large  part  of  our  fellow 
citizens."  Clay  seized  the  chance  to  array  the  Bank  against 
Jackson,  and  persuaded  Biddle  (the  Bank's  president)  to  ask 

1  Under  the  system  of  the  past  half-century,  any  body  of  men  with  a  few 
thousand  dollars  can  open  a  "national  bank."  This  is  a  situation  wholly 
different  from  that  of  1816-1835. 


488  THE    "REIGN   OF  JACKSON"  [§577 

Congress  at  once  for  a  new  charter.  The  bill  passed,  and 
Jackson  vetoed  it  (July,  1831),  declaring  the  Bank's  control  of 
the  country's  money  a  menace  to  business  and  to  democratic 
government.  Again,  too,  despite  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  1819,  he  called* the  Bank  charter  unconstitutional. 

577.  Jackson's  foes  were  jubilant.     Webster  and  Adams  both 
declared  that  the  "  old  Indian  fighter  "  was  in  his  dotage ;  and 
Clay  and  Biddle  printed  and  circulated  30,000  copies  of  the 
veto  as  a  campaign  document  to  defeat  his  reelection. 

It  proved  an  admirable  campaign  document — for  Jackson. 
In  the  election  of  1832  the  foremost  question  was  Jackson  or  the 
Bank.  The  president  was  a  novice  in  politics,  but  he  had  out 
played  the  politicians  and  selected  the  one  issue  that  could  keep 
his  old  following  united.  The  West  and  Southwest  hated  the 
Bank  and  loved  Jackson ;  the  old  South  at  least  hated  the  Bank  ; 
and  once  more  the  workingmen  of  the  Eastern  cities  declared 
vehemently  against  all  monopolies.  The  Bank  went  into  politics 
with  all  its  resources,  open  and  secret.  In  particular  it  made 
loans  on  easy  terms  to  fifty  members  of  Congress  ;  it  secured 
the  support  of  the  leading  papers ;  and  it  paid  lavish  sums  to 
political  writers  all  over  the  country  to  attack  Jackson. 

578.  Jackson  was  reflected  by  219  electoral  votes,  to  49  for 
Clay,  and  he  received  a  larger  popular  vote,  in  proportion  to 
population,  than  any  president  had  ever  had.    For  the  first  time, 
a  President  had  appealed  to  the  Nation  over  the  head  of  Con 
gress  ;  and  the  Nation  sustained  him. 

In  this  campaign  the  National  Republicans  (§  520),  com 
plaining  of  Jackson's  attempts  to  dominate  Congress,  took  the 
name  Whig  —  which  in  England  had  long  indicated  opposition 
to  royal  control  over  parliament. 

579.  Meantime  the  question  of  protection  or  nullification  was 
pressing  to  the  front.     In  the  summer  of  1828,  while  the  South 
was  seething  with  talk  of  secession,  Calhoun  had  brought  for 
ward  what  he  thought  a  milder  remedy  for  the  injustice  of  the 
tariff.     This  was  his  theory  of  nullification,  presented  in  his 
famous  Exposition,  •* ;- .• 


§  581]  THE  WEBSTER-HAYNE   DEBATE  489 

That  paper  argued  (1)  that  the  tariff  was  ruinous  to  the 
South  ;  (2)  that  "protection"  was  unconstitutional ;  (3)  that,  in 
the  case  of  an  Act  so  injurious  and  unconstitutional,  any  State 
had  a  constitutional  right  peacefully  to  nullify  the  law  within  her 
borders,  until  Congress  should  appeal  to  the  States  and  be 
sustained  by  three  fourths  of  them  —  the  number  necessary  to 
amend  the  Constitution  and  therefore  competent  to  say  what 
was  and  was  not  constitutional. 

580.  Jackson's  election  in  1829  relieved  this  tension  for  a 
time.     His  first  inaugural  declared  his  wish  to  show  "  a  proper 
respect  for  the  sovereign  members  of  our  Union  "  ;  and  he  was 
supposed  to  dislike  the  existing   tariff.     Under   these   condi 
tions,   the  South  hoped  that  relief   might   come  without   its 
taking     extreme     measures.      During     1828-1829,    Southern 
leaders  pressed  upon  Jackson  unceasingly  the  need  of  securing 
new  tariff  legislation.      Then,   unexpectedly,  the  question  of 
nullification  was  argued  in  "  the  great  debate  "  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate  (January  19-29,  1830). 

Senator  Foote  of  Connecticut  voiced  the  Eastern  jealousy 
of  Western  growth  by  a  resolution  to  stop  the  sale  of  public 
lands.  The  Westerners  resented  this  attack  on  their  develop 
ment  vigorously.  Benton  gladly  seized  the  chance  once  more 
to  set  forth  his  plans  for  preemption  laws  and  other  schemes  to 
make  easier  the  way  for  the  pioneer.  But  soon  the  debate 
ranged  far  from  the  original  matter.  Senator  Hayne  of  South 
Carolina  denounced  warmly  the  East's  selfishness,  pledged  to 
the  West  the  continued  support  of  the  South,  and  at  the  same 
time  sought  to  draw  the  West  to  the  doctrine  of  Calhoun's  Exposi 
tion.  Webster  replied  to  Hayne's  argument  for  nullification  in 
two  magnificent  orations,  stripping  bare  the  practical  absurdity 
of  the  doctrine,  and  portraying  in  vivid  colors  the  glory  of 
American  Nationality. 

581.  Webster  argued  that  the  Constitution  made  us  a  Nation. 
To  strengthen  this  position,  he  maintained  that  as  one  nation 
"  we  the  people  of  the  United  States  "  had  made  the  Constitu 
tion  (§  362).     Here  facts  were  against  him ;  but  this  historical 


490  ANDREW  JACKSON  [§  582 

part  of  his  plea  ivas  really  immaterial.  The  vital  thing  was  not 
the  theory  of  union  held  by  a  departed  generation,  but  the  will 
and  needs  of  the  throbbing  present.  And  when  he  argued  that 
the  United  States  was  now  one  Nation,  and  must  so  continue, 
he  gave  deathless  form  to  a  truth  which,  inarticulate  before,  had 
yet  been  growing  in  the  consciousness  of  the  progressive  North 
and  West.  A  brilliant  picture  of  the  manifold  benefits  of  the 
Union  closed  with  the  splendid  flight  of  eloquence  which  was 
to  count  in  years  to  come  for  more  than  argument  and  more 
than  armies :  — 

"While  the  Union  lasts,  we  have  high,  exciting,  gratifying  prospects 
spread  out  before  us,  for  us  and  our  children.  Beyond  that,  I  seek  not 
to  penetrate  the  veil.  When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold,  for  the 
last  time,  the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see  him  shining  on  the  broken 
and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union  ;  on  States  dissevered, 
discordant,  belligerent ;  on  a  land  rent  with  civil  feuds,  or  drenched,  it 
may  be,  in  fraternal  blood !  Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance, 
rather,  behold  the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic,  now  known  and 
honored  throughout  the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its  arms  and 
trophies  streaming  in  their  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased  or  polluted, 
not  a  single  star  obscured,  bearing  for  its  motto  no  such  miserable  inter 
rogatory  as,  What  is  all  this  worth  ?  Nor  those  other  words  of  delusion 
and  folly,  Liberty  first,  and  Union  afterwards  :  but  everywhere,  spread 
all  over  in  characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds,  as 
they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in  every  wind  under  the 
whole  heavens,  that  other  sentiment,  dear  to  every  true  American  heart 
—  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable  !  " 

Says  Professor  MacDonald  (Jacksonian  Democracy,  in) :  "Hayne 
argued  for  a  theory,  which,  however  once  widely  held,  had  been  out 
grown,  and  which  could  not  under  any  circumstances  be  made  to  work. 
Webster  argued  for  a  theory,  which,  though  unhistorical  in  the  form  in 
which  he  presented  it,  nevertheless  gave  the  Federal  government  ground 
on  which  to  stand.  The  one  .  .  .  looked  to  the  past,  the  other  to  the 
present  and  future.  Both  were  statesmen;  both  loved  their  country: 
but  Hayne  would  call  a  halt,  while  Webster  would  march  on." 

582.  The  Southern  leaders  now  arranged  a  Jefferson  Day 
banquet  at  Washington  (April  13,  1830),  at  which  the  toasts 
were  saturated  with  State  sovereignty.  Jackson,  the  guest 
of  honor,  startled  the  gathering  by  proposing  the  toast  —  "  Our 


§  584]  AND  NULLIFICATION  491 

Federal  Union :  it  must  be  preserved."  And  soon  he  took  ad 
vantage  of  several  other  opportunities  to  declare  that  he  would 
meet  nullification  with  force. 

Jackson,  however,  did  now  recommend  revision  and  reduc 
tion  of  the  tariff ;  but  he  failed  to  get  what  he  wanted.  Clay 
thought  he  could  defy  both  Jackson  and  Calhoun  ;  and  the  new 
"tariff  of  1832"  removed  only  the  absurd  atrocities  of  1828, 
returning  to  about  the  basis  of  1824.  This  merely  strengthened 
the  principle  of  protection,  and  gave  no  relief  to  the  South. 

583.  The  South  Carolina  Congressmen  now  called  upon  their 
people  to  decide  "  whether  the  rights  and  liberties  which  you 
received  as  a  precious  inheritance  from  an  illustrious  ancestry 
shall  be  surrendered  tamely  ...  or  transmitted  undiminished 
to  your  posterity."     During  the  National  campaign  for  Jack 
son's  reelection,  a  strenuous  State  campaign  in  South  Carolina 
elected  a  legislature  which  by  large  majorities  called  a  State 
convention.    Jackson,  meanwhile,  strengthened  the  Federal  garri 
son  at  Fort  Moultrie  (in  Charleston  harbor). 

After  five  days  of  deliberation,  the  convention  (November  19), 
by  a  vote  of  136  to  26,  adopted  an  Ordinance  of  Nullification,  de 
claring  the  tariff  laws  void  within  South  Carolina,  and  threaten 
ing  war  if  the  Federal  government  should  attempt  to  enforce 
them. 

584.  December  10,  1832,  Jackson  issued  an  admirable  procla 
mation  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  warning  them  of  the 
peril  into  which  they  were  running,  and  affirming  his  determina 
tion  to  enforce  the  laws  —  by  the  bayonet  if  necessary.     But  to 
Congress,  a  few  days  before,  he  had  once  more  recommended 
further  revision  of  the  tariff.     The  legislature  of  Virginia,  at 
the  .suggestion  of  members  of  the  Cabinet,  urged  compromise. 
Clay  felt  the  whole   protective   system   endangered,  and  he 
joined  hands  with  Calhoun  to  draw  a  tariff  bill  acceptable  to 
South  Carolina,  —  providing  for  a  reduction  of  the  duties  in  the 
tariff  of  1832,  to  be  made  gradually,  so  that  by  1842  no  rate 
should  exceed  20  per  cent.     This  was  a  return  to  something 
lower  than  the  practice  in  1816. 


492  ANDREW  JACKSON  [§  585 

On  March.  1,  1833,  Congress  passed  both  this  compromise 
tariff  and  a  Force  bill  giving  the  President  forces  to  bring  rebel 
lious  South  Carolina  to  obedience  ;  and  the  President  took  what 
satisfaction  he  could  get  by  signing  the  Force  bill  a  few  min 
utes  sooner  than  the  Tariff  bill.  March  n,  the  South  Carolina 
convention  reassembled  and  rescinded  the  nullification  ordinance. 
Both  sides  claimed  victory.  South  Carolina  certainly  had  not 
yielded  until  she  got  all  she  had  asked. 

585.  Whatever  victory  the  President  might  possibly  have 
boasted  in  South  Carolina  he  weakened  by  permitting  Georgia 
to  nullify  a  treaty  of  the  United  States  and  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court. 

Georgia  had  enacted  laws  regarding  certain  lands  which 
United  States  treaties  declared  to  be  Indian  lands.  A  mis 
sionary  to  the  Indians  disregarded  these  pretended  laws ;  and 
a  Georgia  court  sentenced  him  to  imprisonment  for  four 
years  at  hard  labor.  In  March,  1832,  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  declared  the  Georgia  statute  void  and  or 
dered  the  release  of  the  prisoner.  "  Well,"  exclaimed  Jackson, 
"  John  Marshall  has  made  his  decision.  Now  let  him  enforce 
it."  The  missionary  remained  in  prison. 

Jackson's  conduct  in  the  two  cases  is  partly  explained  by  the 
fact  that  in  one  case  he  hated  Indians,  while  in  the  other  case 
he  hated  Calhoun.  Moreover,  Georgia's  success  humiliated 
only  John  Marshall,  whom  Jackson  disliked :  South  Carolina 
would  have  humiliated  the  authority  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States, — who  happened  just  then  to  be  Andrew  Jackson. 

Jackson  had  discovered  that,  years  before,  Calhoun  had  tried  to  per 
suade  Monroe's  Cabinet  to  have  him  (Jackson)  censured  for  exceeding 
his  military  authority.  Moreover,  a  frontiersman  like  Jackson  was  certain 
to  sympathize  with  Georgia's  attempts  to  rid  her  soil  of  the  Indians. 
Jackson  urged  Congress  repeatedly  to  remove  all  Indian  tribes  to  the 
"Indian  Territory"  beyond  the  Mississippi.  This  policy  was  finally 
adopted  in  his  second  administration,  giving  rise  to  the  brief  "  Black 
Hawk  War"  in  the  Northwest,  and  to  the  long-drawn-out  Seminole  War 
in  the  Everglades  of  Florida.  No  act,  however,  did  more  to  confirm 
Jackson's  popularity  in  the  land-hungry  and  somewhat  ruthless  West. 


§  586]  AND  THE  BANK  493 

586.  Jackson  took  his  reelection  in  1832  as  a  verdict  from 
the  people  against  the  Bank.  Its  charter  had  three  years  still 
to  run ;  but  in  1833  Jackson  insisted  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  should  thereafter  deposit  government  funds,  as  they  came 
in,  with  certain  "  pet "  State  banks  instead  of  with  the  National 
Bank.  Two  Secretaries  had  to  be  removed  before  he  found 
one  willing  to  take  this  step  ;  and  the  Senate,  still  controlled 


A  CONTEMPORARY  JACKSON  PRINT.  Part  of  a  large  sheet  presenting  "  Inci 
dents  in  the  life  of  General  Jackson,"  published  in  1840  in  New  York. 
From  an  original  in  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Asso 
ciation.  The  scene  represents  a  rustic  festival  gathered  to  honor  "the 
old  hero."  Girls  will  notice  the  gowns  and  bonnets  of  the  belles  in  the 
foreground. 

by  the  hold-over  Whigs,  passed  a  formal  censure  of  the  Presi 
dent  —  which  his  followers  some  months  later  managed  to  have 
expunged. 

The  "dying  monster,"  as  Jackson  men  called  the  Bank, 
fought  savagely.  Indeed  it  did  not  believe  it  was  dying. 
Biddle  was  confident  he  could  force  a  new  charter  through 
Congress  over  Jackson's  veto.  August  1,  1833,  he  ordered  the 
twenty-six  branch  banks  to  call  in  loans  and  reduce  their  bank 
note  circulation,  so  as  to  make  "  hard  times/'  claiming  of  course 


494  ANDREW  JACKSON  [§  587 

that  such  contraction  was  necessary  because  of  the  loss  of  the 
government  deposits.  In  the  midst  of  a  prosperous  year,  a 
short,  sharp  panic  followed,  manufactured  heartlessly  by  the 
money  power.  The  harvest  was  abundant ;  but  the  lack  of  the 
usual  credit  was  felt  cruelly  in  the  South  and  West  where  large 
amounts  of  money  were  always  needed  at  that  time  of  year  to 
"  move  "  cotton  and  grain  to  Eastern  markets.  Interest  rose 
from  six  and  eight  per  cent  to  fifteen  and  even  to  twenty-four 
per  cent ;  and  farms  and  crops  went  for  a  song  under  the 
auctioneer's  hammer.  Delegations  of  business  men  rushed  to 
Washington  to  urge  Jackson  to  surrender. 

Jackson,  however,  could  not  be  moved ;  and  soon  both  Con 
gress  and  public  opinion  deserted  the  Bank.  In  1834  Biddle 
gave  up  the  struggle.  The  Bank  applied  to  Pennsylvania  for 
a  charter  as  a  State  Bank,  and  meantime  returned  to  its  old 
policy  in  loans  and  circulation.  Business  became  normal 
at  once. 

587.  This  grisly  matter  might  well  have  warned  the  nation 
that  its  credit  was  over-inflated.  The  nation  did  not  see  the 
warning  and,  three  years  after  this  artificial  panic,  natural 
causes  brought  on  a  real  panic  like  that  of  1819. 

Since  the  War  of  1812,  State  banks  had  doubled  in  numbers 
and  in  capital  and  bulk  of  loans  without  enlarging  the  total  of 
gold  and  silver  on  hand.  Many  of  them,  especially  in  the 
South  and  West,  were  "  wild-cat "  banks,  weak  and  recklessly 
managed.  No  State  had  yet  learned  how  to  guard  its  citizens 
against  such  abuses. 

Other  lines  of  business  were  equally  reckless.  The  people, 
especially  in  the  South  and  West,  bought  their  daily  supplies 
"  on  credit "  from  the  store ;  the  storekeepers  had  bought  the 
goods  on  long  time  from  Eastern  wholesalers ;  and  these  in 
turn  had  bought  on  credit  from  the  factory  or  the  foreign 
merchant.  All  this  was  perhaps  necessary ;  but  it  encouraged 
extravagance.  Less  excusable  was  the  universal  rage  to  invest 
in  land  and  to  speculate  in  stocks  —  on  credit,  loaned  largely 
by  the  unreliable  State  banks.  And  after  1834  the  "pet" 


§  589]  INFLATION  AND  PANIC  495 

banks,  in  which  the  government  deposited  funds,  felt  able  to 
loan  more  freely  than  ever  before. 

The  orgy  of  building  roads  and  canals,  too,  was  in  full  swing 
(§  497).  The  West  had  failed  to  get  much  in  the  way  of  in 
ternal  improvements  from  the  Federal  government ;  but,  con 
fident  in  its  future,  it  was  pushing  canals  and  even  railroads  into 
the  wilderness.  Often  this  was  done  wastefully ;  and  in  any 
case  such  money  was  "  sunk "  where  it  could  pay  no  interest 
for  many  years.  Illinois,  with  half  a  million  people  and  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars  for  its  yearly  revenue,  bonded 
itself  for  roads  and  canals  to  the  amount  of  $14,000,000.!  In 
1820  State  debts  all  together  were  under  $13,000,000:  in  1840 
they  were  $200,000,000,  mainly  owed  to  European  capitalists 
who  drew  $12,000,000  interest  yearly  from  America. 

588.  Another  government  measure  of  Jackson's  administra 
tion  scattered  more  widely  the  infection  of  overinvestment. 
In  1835  the  national  debt  ivas  paid,  and  a  surplus  was  piling  up 
in  the  Treasury  at  the  rate  of    $35,000,000  a  year.      Taxes 
could  not  be  reduced   conveniently:   half   this   income   came 
from  the  tariff,  and  the  government  was  pledged  not  to  dis 
turb   that  until  1842  at  least  (§  584)  ;    the   other  half   came 
from  the  public  lands  ;  and  the  West  would  not  listen  to  any 
suggestion  for  shutting  down  on  those  sales.     Accordingly,  the 
government   decided  to  divide   this  surplus   among  the  States. 
The  money  then  found  its  way,  as  State  deposits,  into  State 
banks  and  into  the  same  round  of  speculation. 

To  avoid  constitutional  scruples,  this  gift  to  the  States  was  called  a 
"  loan  without  interest."  Twenty-eight  million  dollars  were  distributed. 
Then  the  "panic"  seized  the  country  and  before  the  end  of  1837  the 
Treasury  was  trying  to  borrow  money  for  necessary  expenses.  No  call 
was  ever  made  upon  the  States  for  a  return  of  the  "  loan." 

589.  In  the  final  year  of  his  administration,  Jackson   be 
came  alarmed  at  the  rapid  sale  of  public  lands,  paid  for  in 
paper  only ;  and  his  famous  "  Specie  Circular  "  ordered  United 

1  Morse's  Lincoln  (I,  53  ff .)  gives  a  quaint  account  of  this  fever. 


496 


VAN  BUREN 


[§  590 


States  land  offices  thereafter  to  accept  only  gold  and  silver  in 
payment  for  public  lands  (July,  1836).  This  was  notice  to 
the  country  that  the  vast  bulk  of  its  currency  was  dubious  in 
value. 

590.  Martin  Vein  Buren,  of  New  York,  Jackson's  faithful 
counselor,  was  elected  to  the  presidency  that  fall,  in  time  to 
reap  the  whirlwind.  In  May,  1837,  every  bank  in  the  country 


Copyright  by  Underwood  and  Underwood. 

UNITED  STATES  TREASURY  BUILDING  AT  WASHINGTON  TO-DAY: 
SOUTH  FRONT. 

suspended  specie  payment,  and  great  numbers  closed  their  doors. 
Gold  and  silver  went  into  hiding,  and  bank  paper  depreciated  in 
fantastic  and  varying  degrees  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
but  everywhere  ruinously.  Merchants  failed  ;  factories  closed 
down;  unemployed  thousands  faced  starvation.  The  first 
Labor  movement  was  crushed  out  (§  549).  Normal  conditions 
were  not  restored  for  five  years. 


§  592]  THE   PUBLIC  DOMAIN  497 

591.  Van  Buren  saw  his  chance  for  a  successful  administra 
tion  ruined  by  the  disaster;   but  he  met   the   situation  with 
calm  good  sense.     His  message  to  Congress  pointed  out  the 
real  causes  of  the  panic  and  the  slow  road  back  to  prosperity. 
Meantime,   for   the.  government   funds,   he   recommended   an 
Independent    Treasury  (independent  of  all   banks).     In   1840 
this  plan   was   adopted,  though   for   some   years   the  Whigs 
fought  desperately  to  revive  their  pet  scheme  of  a  National 
Bank.     The  government  built  itself  great  vaults  at  Washing 
ton  and  other  leading  cities  ;  and  until  recently  the  National 
funds  were  handled  solely  in  these,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Treasury  Department. 

592,  The  two  other   great  measures  of   Van  Buren's  four 
years  were  the  ten-hour  order  (§  551)  and  a  preemption  law. 

By  1830,  the  sale  of  public  lands  was  bringing  in  as  much 
money  as  the  tariff.  The  revenue  was  not  then  needed;  and 
the  well-to-do  classes  in  the  Eastern  States  felt  that,  the  lands 
ought  to  be  sold  more  slowly,  so  as,  eventually,  to  produce 
more  revenue  when  it  should  be  more  needed  (§  580).  The 
new  States  stood  for  a  different  policy.  They  looked  upon 
the  public  lands  not  as  a  source  of  revenue,  but  as  a  source  of 
homes  and  as  a  means  of  developing  the  country,  and  were 
ready  even  to  give  them  away,  in  order  to  encourage  rapid 
settlement.  The  workingmen  of  the  North  Atlantic  section 
(§  549)  threw  their  weight  overwhelmingly  into  the  same 
scale. 

As  early  as  1828,  before  the  West  itself  was  fully  aroused,  the 
Mechanics'  Free  Press  (§  545)  circulated  a  memorial  for  signature 
among  its  constituency,  urging  Congress  to  place  "all  the  Public  Lands, 
without  the  delay  of  sales,  within  reach  of  the  people  at  large,  by  right 
of  a  title  occupancy  only,"  since  "the  present  state  of  affairs  must  lead 
to  the  wealth  of  a  few,"  and  since  "  all  men  .  .  .  have  naturally  a  birth 
right  in  the  soil."  And  says  Dr.  Commons,  —  **  The  organized  working- 
men  .  .  .  discovered  that  the  reason  why  their  wages  did  not  rise  and 
why  their  strikes  were  ineffective  was  because  escape  from  the  crowded 
cities  of  the  East  was  shut  off  by  land  speculation.  In  their  conventions 
and  papers,  therefore,  they  demanded  that  the  public  lands  should  no 


498  THE  PREEMPTION  ACT   OF   1841  [§  592 

more  be  treated  as  a  source  of  revenue  to  relieve  taxpayers,  but  as  an 
instrument  of  social  reform  to  raise  the  wages  of  labor. 

"And  when  we,  in  later  years,  refer  to  our  wide  domain  and  our  great 
natural  resources  as  reasons  for  high  wages  in  this  country,  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  access  to  these  resources  was  secured  only  by  agitation  and 
by  act  of  legislation.  Not  merely  as  a  gift  of  nature,  but  mainly  as  a  de 
mand  of  democracy,  have  the  nation's  resources  contributed  to  the  eleva 
tion  of  labor."  — Introduction  to  Vol.  V  of  Documentary  History  of 
American  Industrial  Society^ 

For  a  while  in  the  thirties,  the  West  urged  that  each  State 
should  be  given  all  the  public  domain  within  its  borders.  To 
steal  the  Democratic  thunder,  and  to  head  off  this  plan, 
which  would  have  destroyed  all  uniformity  in  dealing  with 
public  lands,  and  wiped  out  a  powerful  bond  of  National 
union,  Clay  advocated  that  all  proceeds  of  public-land  sales 
should  be  distributed  among  the  States  in  proportion  to  their 
Congressional  representation.  His  first  bills  failed,  but,  with 
the  return  of  prosperity  in  1841,  he  carried  a  law  with  three 
features  :  (1)  it  divided  among  the  States  (for.  a  limited  time) 
90  per  cent  of  the  proceeds  of  the  land  sales ;  (2)  it  inaugu 
rated  the  policy,  since  maintained,  of  giving  to  each  new  State l 
a  liberal  amount  of  lands  to  form  a  State  fund  for  internal  im 
provements;  (3)  it  contained  the  famous  provision  (championed 
by  Benton  for  twenty  years)  which  gave  to  the  whole  law  its 
name  The  Preemption  Act. 

Settlers  pushed  on  ahead  of  land-office  sales,  as  squatters.  Later 
came  a  public  sale,  wherein  the  land  office  put  up  each  "  forty  "  at  auc 
tion.  Speculators  with  Eastern  money  attended,  eager  to  get  choice 
pieces.  The  settler  was  sometimes  outbid  (losing  the  results  of  his 
labor  upon  the  land  and  of  his  foresigftt  in  selecting  it),  or  was  compelled 
to  pay  much  more  than  the  minimum  price  of  $1.25  an  acre,  to  which 
the  frontier  community  felt  that  he  was  entitled.  The  preemption  law 
provided  simple  means  by  which  the  settler  might  "  file  upon  "  a  piece  of 

1  Similar  grants  were  provided  also  for  those  of  the  older  States  which  had 
not  already  had  a  liberal  control  over  the  lands  within  their  borders.  This 
grant  was  in  addition  to  the  customary  grant  of  school  lands  (§  314,  close), 
and  followed  out  the  principle  of  the  original  grant  to  Ohio  for  internal  im 
provements  (§  455) . 


§  594]  AND  SETTLERS'  ASSOCIATIONS  499 

land  in  advance  of  the  regular  sale,  and  so  "pre-empt"  the  privilege  of 
retaining  it  by  paying  the  minimum  price  when  the  sale  came  on. 

593.  Even  before  this  law,  its  purpose  had  been  commonly 
secured  by  "  Settlers'  Associations."     With  the  frontier  instinct 
for   rough  justice   even  at   the  expense  of  legal  forms,  the 
settlers  had  learned  to  band  themselves  together  to  maintain 
"  squatters'  rights  "  at  these  government  sales. 

The  procedure  was  sometimes  dramatic.  The  Association 
"  Captain  "  sat  on  the  rude  platform  beside  the  auctioneer,  — 
a  list  of  settlers'  claims  in  hand  and  revolver  in  belt,  with  his 
stalwart  associates,  armed,  in  the  company  about.  When  a 
piece  was  put  up  on  which  a  squatter  had  made  improvements, 
the  "  Captain  "  spoke  the  word  "  Settled,"  —  which  was  notice 
to  outsiders  that  the  settler  must  be  permitted  to  bid  it  in  at 
the  minimum  price  without  competition. 

An  incident  of  such  a  sale  in  Illinois  in  the  thirties  has  been  described 
to  the  writer  by  an  eye-witness  who  stood,  a  boy,  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
little  crowd.  The  "  Captain  "  was  John  Campbell,  a  black-browed  Pres 
byterian  Scot,  standing  six  feet  four.  In  one  case  an  Eastern  bidder 
failed  to  hear,  or  to  respect,  the  gruff  "  Settled,"  and  made  a  higher  bid. 
With  a  bound  from  the  platform,  Campbell  seized  the  offender  by  the 
waist,  lifted  him  into  the  air,  hurled  him  to  the  ground,  and,  foot  on  the 
prostrate  form  and  cocked  revolver  in  hand,  asked  significantly,  —  "  Did 
we  hear  you  speak?  "  Protestations  of  misunderstanding  and  earnest 
disclaimers  followed  from  the  frightened  man.  Bending  forward,  Camp 
bell  set  him,  none  too  gently,  on  his  feet,  admonished  him  solemnly,  "  See 
that  it  doesn't  happen  again  "  ;  and  returned,  in  unruffled  dignity,  to  the 
platform,  where  the  government  official  had  been  quietly  waiting.  The 
land  was  then  knocked  down  to  the  squatter  at  the  minimum  price,  and 
the  sale  proceeded  decorously,  to  general  satisfaction. 

594.  The  campaign  of  1840  marks  the  final  disappearance  from 
American  politics  of  all  open  belief  in  aristocracy.      The  two 
parties  rivaled  each  other  in  avowals  of  devotion  to  the  will  of 
the  people ;  and  the  Whigs  won  because  their  clamor  was  the 
loudest  and  because  the  Democrats  were  discredited  by  the 
panic  of  '37. 

The  Whig   candidate    was    William  Henry  Harrison,   the 


500  TIPPECANOE   AND  TYLER  TOO  [§  595 

victor  of  Tippecanoe.  An  opponent  referred  to  him  contemp 
tuously  as  a  rude  frontiersman  fit  only  to  live  in  a  log  cabin  and 
drink  hard  cider.  The  Whigs  turned  this  slur  into  effective 
ammunition.  They  had  110  official  platform,  and  their  can 
didate  for  Vice  President,  Tyler,  was  a  States-rights  Democrat 
who  happened  to  be  hostile  to  Van  Buren.  But  they  swept 
the  country  in  a  "  Hurrah  Boys  "  campaign  for  "  Tippecanoe 
and  Tyler,  too,"  —  the  chief  features  being  immense  mass 
meetings  in  the  country  and  torchlight  processions  in  the 
cities,  with  both  sorts  of  entertainment  centering  round  log 
cabins  and  barrels  of  cider.1 

595.  Harrison  carried  twenty  States,  to  six  for  the  Democrats, 
and  his  party  secured  a  working  majority  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress ;  but  the  victory  was  futile.     Harrison  died  within  a 
month  of  the  inauguration;  and  Tyler  opposed  his  veto  to  the 
Whig  measures.     Two  bills  to  restore  a  United  States  Bank  (in 
place  of  the   Independent    Treasury)  failed  in   this    way  in 
August  and  September  of  1841.     Whig  papers  raised  a  bitter 
cry  of  "Judas  Iscariot";  and  every  member  of  ^  the  Cabinet 
resigned  except  Daniel  Webster.      In  like  manner   the  veto 
killed  two  bills  for  an  extreme  protective  tariff,  but  a  third  and 
more   moderate   measure   received   the  President's   approval. 

596.  The  compromise  of  1832  had  just  taken  full  effect,  but 
it  was  now  at  once  undone.     The  panic  of  1837  had  depleted 
the  treasury ;  and,  aided  by  the  cry  for  revenue,  the  protective 
"  Tariff  of  1 842  "  was  enacted,  raising  the  rates  to  about  the 
level  of  1832. 

The  Whigs  certainly  had  a  "  mandate "  from  the  country  for 
the  change.  "  Protection  "  was  the  one  principle  that  they  had 
stood  for  in  the  campaign.  Curiously  enough,  the  ground  on 
which  they  had  demanded  "  protection "  was  altogether  new. 
The  old  demand  (1816-1832)  had  been  aristocratic — in  the  in 
terest  of  wealth.  "Protect  the  manufacturers,"  it  said, 
"  because  they  have  to  pay  such  high  wages."  The  new  demand, 

1  The  cut  on  p.  493  shows  that  the  Democrats  tried  to  steal  this  "  thunder  '• 
for  their  leader. 


§  598]  TARIFFS   ONCE  MORE  501 

formulated  by  Horace  Greeley  and  advocated  by  him  with 
religious  fervor  in  his  New  York  Tribune,  stood  for  social  and 
democratic  reform  —  in  the  interest  of  the  workers.  "  Protect 
manufactures,"  it  said,  "  in  order  that  the  workmen  may  continue 
to  get  high  wages.'7 

Greeley  continued  to  preach  this  doctrine  for  more  than  thirty 
years  ;  and  during  all  that  time  his  paper  was  the  most  influen 
tial  publication  in  America.  Almost  at  once,  however,  the 
contest  over  slavery  drew  public  attention  away  from  other 
problems;  and  this  new  argument  for  protective  tariffs  was 
not  duly  sifted  until  a  much  later  time. 

597.  Tariff  history,  down  to  the  Civil  War,  is  conveniently 
disposed  of  here  in  a  few  words.     The  Democrats  came  back 
to  power  at  the  next  election  (§  678),  and  enacted  the  "  Walker 
revenue  tariff"  of  1846.     Imports  such  as  coffees  and  teas  and 
other  articles  of  common  use,  not  produced  in  the  United  States, 
were  taxed  very  high,  while  manufactures  previously  protected 
(iron,  wool,  etc.)  were  taxed  only  thirty  per  cent.     The  measure 
was  called  a  free-trade  tariff,  but  it  afforded  a  moderate  degree 
of  protection,  besides  nearly  doubling  the  revenue.     In  1857 
rates  were  reduced  materially  for  a  time,  to  a  real  "  tariff  for 
revenue  "  basis. 

598.  Webster  kept  his  unpleasant  position  as  Secretary  of 
State  under  Tyler  (§  595)  in  order  to  complete  an  important 
negotiation  with  England.     Soon  after  the  settlement  of  the 
dispute  regarding  the  St.  Croix  River  (§  406),  another  differ 
ence  of  opinion  had  arisen  regarding  the  northern  boundary  of 
Maine  farther  to  the  west.     England  claimed  one  line,  and  the 
United  States  another,  from  different  interpretations  of  the 
words  of  the  Treaty  of  1783.     The  King  of  the  Netherlands, 
to  whom  as  arbitrator  the  contention  was  submitted,  exceeded 
his  province  by  drawing  a  compromise*  line  without  reference  to 
the  merits  o/the  question;  and  the  United  States  refused  to 
accept  the  award.     In  1842  the  question  was  settled  by  the 
Webster-Ashburton  Treaty,  which  gave  each  country  about  half 
the  disputed  territory. 


502  TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION  [§  599 

Two  striking  democratic  episodes  in  single  States  belong  to 
this  period  (§§  599,  600). 

599.  The  land  near  the  Hudson  had  belonged  originally  to 
large  proprietors  known  as  patroons  (§  169),  and  the  modern 
holders  still  paid  an  annual  "quit  rent"  of  ten  or  twenty  cents 
an  acre  to  the  descendants  of  the  patroons.     In  1839  a  violent 
public  agitation  against  the  payment  of  such  rents  came  to  a 
head  in  a  series  of  anti-rent  riots.     Sheriffs  and  some  rent  pay 
ers  were  killed  ;  popular  sympathy  was  with  the  agitation  ;  and 
the  landlords  finally  gave  up  their  claims  in  return  for  a  small 
lump  sum  from  the  State  of  New  York. 

600.  In  Rhode  Island  in  the  latter  part  of  the  colonial  period, 
the  franchise  had  become  the  narrowest,  perhaps,  in  any  colony. 
No  man  could  vote  unless  he  owned  real  estate  worth  $134)  or 
unless  he  were  the  oldest  son  of  such  a  man.     Moreover,  the 
smallest  town  had  as  much  weight  in  the  legislature  as  the 
capital   city  —  which  contained   about   a  third  of   the  whole 
population.     For  sixty  years  after  the  Revolution,  these  abuses 
continued.     The   people   had   long  clamored  for  reform,  but 
the  close  oligarchy  paid    no  attention  to  the  cry.     In  1841, 
unable  to  get  action  through  the  oligarchic  legislature,  a  People's 
party  arranged,  without  legislative  approval,  for  the  election  of 
a  constitutional   convention  by  manhood  suffrage.     The  great 
mass  of  the  citizens  took  part  in  choosing  the  convention ;  and 
its  new  constitution  was  duly  ratified  by  a  popular  vote.     Then 
the  people  chose   Thomas    Wilson  Dorr,  their  leader  in  this 
revolution,  for  governor  under  the  new  constitution.     The  old 
"charter  government"  refused  to  surrender  possession  of  the 
government,  and  was  supported  by  President    Tyler,  with  the 
promise  of  Federal  troops.     The  revolutionary  government  then 
vanished,  and  Dorr  was  tried  for  treason,  and  condemned  to 
imprisonment  for  life  at  hard  labor.     The  democratic  uprising 
is  known  as  Dorr's  Rebellion. 

The  oligarchic  "charter  government"  saw,  however,  that  it 
must  give  way,  but  it  sought,  successfully,  to  save  something 
from  the  wreck.  It  called  a  constitutional  convention,  while 


§  600]  DORR'S  REBELLION  503 

hundreds  of  democratic  leaders  were  in  jail  under  martial  law 
sentences ;  and  though  its  new  constitution  (1842)  provided 
for  manhood  suffrage  for  native  Americans,  the  landed  quali 
fication  for  naturalized  citizens  was  maintained  (until  1882), 
along  with  the  "  rotten  borough  "basis  for  the  upper  House  of 
the  legislature,  and  with  the  appointment  of  local  officers  by 
that  House.  The  first  legislature  of  the  new  government  set 
Dorr  free  by  special  act,  —  not  by  the  usual  form  of  pardon ; 
but  this  martyr  to  the  cause  of  constitutional  freedom  died 
some  years  later  from  disease  contracted  in  his  unwholesome 
prison  life. 

EXERCISE.  —  Review  (1)  the  tariff  from  1789  to  1857  ;  (2)  public  land 
policy;  (3)  the  franchise;  (4)  the  Labor  movement ;  and  make  a  brief 
for  each  topic.  List  important  events  of  each  administration,  through 
Van  Buren's.  If  you  had  been  a  voter  in  1840,  with  which  party  would 
you  have  voted  ?  Trace  the  rise  and  fall  of  political  parties  from  1789 
to  1840. 


PART   X 

SLAVERY 

+ 

CHAPTER   LII 
SLAVERY  TO   1844 

In  1844  the  Slave  Power  began  to  demand  more  territory  ;  and,  for  the 
next  twenty  years,  slavery  was  the  dominant  question  in  American  politics. 
This  chapter  is  an  introduction  to  that  story. 

601.  The  Revolution,  with  its  emphasis  upon  human  rights, 
created  the  first  antislavery  movement.1     This  movement  lasted 
until  about  1820,  though  it  spent  its  greatest  force  before  1800. 
It  was  moral  and  religious,  rather  than  political,  belonging  to 
the  South  quite  as  much  as  to  the  North ;  and  it  was  consider 
ate  of  the  slaveholder's  difficulties.     On  their  part,  the  slave 
holders  during  this  period  (outside  Georgia  and  South  Carolina) 
apologized  for  slavery  as  an  evil  they  would  be  glad  to  get  rid  of 
safely. 

602.  Slavery  seemed  dying.     Vermont's  constitution  of  1777 
abolished  slavery,  as  did  that  of  Massachusetts,  indirectly,  in 
1780  (§  262)  and  that  of  New  Hampshire  in  1783.     By  law, 
Pennsylvania  decreed  freedom  for  all  children  born  to  slave 
parents  in  her  territory  after  1780;  and  this  sort  of  gradual 
emancipation  was  adopted  in  Connecticut  and  Khode  Island  in 
1784,  in  New  York  in  1799,  and  in  New  Jersey  in  1804. 

1  So,  too,  Revolutionary  France  abolished  slavery  in  her  West  Indies  in 
1794,  as  did  the  Spanish-American  States,  without  exception,  as  they  won  their 
independence  after  1815  (§  464). 

504 


§  603]  SLAVERY   DEFENSIVE  TO   1820  505 

In  the  Southern  States,  too,  many  leaders  urged  gradual 
emancipation  with  provision  for  removing  the  Negroes.  This 
sentiment  created  the  American  Colonization  Society,  which 
established  the  Negro  Republic  of  Liberia  on  the  African 
coast  as  a  home  for  ex-slaves.  The  Society  proved  unable,  how 
ever,  to  send  Negroes  to  Africa  as  rapidly  as  they  were  born  in 
America. 

After  1804,  no  slave  could  be  born  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line  ;  but  nearly  all  the  "  free  States  "  continued  to 
contain  slaves  born  before  "gradual  emancipation"  began. 
The  census  of  1830  showed  some  2700  in  the  North ;  and  as 
late  as  1850  New  Jersey  counted  236.  So,  too,  all  the  States 
of  the  Old  Northwest,  except  Michigan,  contained  some  slaves 
in  1840,  —  survivors  of  those  owned  by  the  original  French 
settlers.  The  antislavery  provision  in  the  Northwest  Ordi 
nance  was  interpreted,  in  practice,  not  to  free  existing  slaves, 
but  merely  to  forbid  the  introduction  of  new  ones. 

If  slavery  was  to  die,  two  things  were  essential;  new  slaves  must  not  be 
imported  from  abroad,  and  slavery  must  not  spread  into  new  territory. 

603.  Between  1776  and  1781,  the  foreign  slave  trade  was  pro 
hibited  by  every  State  except  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  In 
deference  to  the  demand  of  these  two  States,  the  Constitution 
permitted  the  importation  of  slaves  for  a  limited  time  (§  351); 
but  as  soon  as  the  twenty-year  period  had  expired,  the  trade 
was  prohibited  by  Congress. 

After  1807,  England  kept  a  naval  patrol  on  the  African  coast  to  inter 
cept  "slavers,"  who  were  regarded  as  pirates  by  most  European  nations. 
Unhappily,  England's  invitations  to  the  United  States  to  join  in  this  good 
work,  in  1817  and  1824,  were  rejected  by  our  Government.  The  War  of 
1812  had  made  us  exceedingly  sensitive  regarding  the  "right  of  search," 
and  we  now  refused  to  permit  an  English  ship  to  search  a  vessel  flying  the 
American  flag,  even  to  ascertain  whether  that  flag  covered  an  American 
ship.  Consequently  our  flag  was  used  by  slavers  of  all  nations  (especially, 
it  must  be  confessed,  of  our  own),  engaged  in  the  horrible  and  lucra 
tive  business  of  stealing  Negroes  in  Africa  to  sell  in  Brazil  or  Cuba,  or, 
after  running  our  ineffective  patrol,  in  the  cities  of  South  Carolina,  where 
little  disguise  was  made  of  the  defiance  of  the  Federal  law.  In  1842,  in 


506  THE   SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  604 

the  Ashburton  Treaty  (§  598),  the  United  States  joined  England  in  an 
agreement  to  keep  a,  joint  squadron  off  the  coast  of  Africa  to  suppress  the 
trade  ;  but  we  never  took  our  proper  share  in  this  work  until  after  the 
opening  of  the  Civil  War.  Between  1850  and  1860,  the  trade  grew  rapidly, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Negroes  fresh  from  the  African  jungle  were 
auctioned  off  in  Southern  markets. 

604.  Three  great  attempts  to  prevent  slavery  from  spread 
ing  into  the  national  domain  have  been  treated  (§§  312,  313, 
515).      It   was   extended,   however,   into  the   old   Southwest 
Territory  and  into  the  southern  parts  of  the  Louisiana  Pur 
chase. 

Congress  vacillated.  It  established  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,1  and  it  passed  the  infamous  Fugitive  Slave  Act 
of  1793  ;  but  it  resisted  many  attempts  by  the  people  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  antislavery  provision  of 
the  Northwest  Ordinance. 

Then,  to  draw  settlers  from  south  of  the  Ohio,  and  to  supply  the  labor 
so  much  needed  in  all  new  countries,  the  people  of  early  Indiana  and 
Illinois  tried  evasion  of  the  Federal  law.  Thousands  of  slaves  were 
brought  into  the  two  Territories  under  forms  of  indenture  or  of"  labor  con 
tracts  "  ;  and  Territorial  "Black  laws "  were  enacted  to  sanction  this  dis 
guised  slavery.  Says  McMaster  (History,  V,  188)  :  "To all  intents  and 
purposes,  slavery  was  as  much  a  domestic  institution  of  Illinois  in  1820  as 
of  Kentucky." 

605.  The  ten  years  from  the  Missouri  Compromise  to  the  election 
of  Jackson  (1820-1829)  form  a  transition  period.     Slavery  was 
still  defended  as  an  evil,  but  as  an  evil  inevitable  and  permanent. 
Its  defenders  still  stood  on  the  defensive,  but  they  were  less 
apologetic  in  tone. 

This  new  attitude  was  due  to  a  moneyed  interest.  Slavery  was 
growing  more  profitable.  The  increased  efficiency  of  slave  labor 

1  Congress  reenacted  the  slave  code  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  for  that 
District.  Accordingly,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Capitol,  a  strange  Negro 
might  be  arrested  and  advertised  on  the  suspicion  of  being  an  escaped  slave ; 
and  if  no  owner  appeared  to  prove  that  suspicion,  he  might  still  be  sold  into 
slavery  to  satisfy  the  jailer's  fees.  This,  however,  had  been  a  recent  practice 
in  Northern  States  for  white  vagrants  (§  202). 


§607]          SLAVERY  AGGRESSIVE  AFTER   1830  507 

because  of  the  cotton  gin  (§  436)  raised  the  value  of  a  field  hand 
from  $200  in  1790  to  $1000  in  1840.  The  Border  States, 
where  slavery  had  never  been  particularly  profitable,  found 
that  they  could  raise  and  sell  slaves  at  high  prices  to  more 
Southern  communities.  Moreover,  the  admission  of  Louisiana 
as  a  slave  State,  together  with  the  extension  of  slavery  into 
the  rest  of  the  Southwest,  made  its  overthrow  seem  less 
possible. 

The  struggle  over  the  Missouri  Compromise  (§  515)  was  the 
first  great  indication  of  this  changing  attitude.  The  measure 
was  distinctly  Southern.  It  won  Missouri  and  Arkansas  to 
slavery ;  and  this  extension  was  favored  by  Clay,  Madison,  and  the 
aged  Jefferson!  Not  a  Southern  congressman  voted  for  a 
"free"  Missouri;  while  only  fifteen  Northerners  voted  against 
the  restriction  on  slavery  — *  and  only  three  of  these  secured 
reelection. 

606.  Ten  or  twelve  years  later,  the  Slave  Power  had  become 
aggressive.     It  advocated  slavery  thereafter  as  a  good,  economic 
and  moral,  for  both  slave  and  master,  and  as  the  only  corner 
stone  for  the  highest  type  of  civilization.     In  consequence,  the 
Negro   was  represented   as   animal   rather   than  human,  and 
wholly  unfit   for  freedom.     Calhoun  devoted   the  remaining 
years  of  his  life  to  advocating  these  views. 

607.  By  1830,  slavery  had  taken  on  somewhat  darker  phases 
than  were  common  in  the  earlier  period.     In  Virginia  and  the 
Border  States  it  continued,  on  the  whole,  humane  and  semi- 
patriarchal,  except  for  the  distressing  sale  of  parts  of  a  slave 
family.     But  the  plantation  type  of  slavery,  formerly  charac 
teristic  mainly  of  Carolina  or  Georgia  rice  swamps  (§  204), 
had  now  been  extended  over  vast  cotton  areas  in  all  the  "Lower 
South." 

Even  in  that  district,  of  course,  the  house  servants  were 
petted  and  gently  cared  for,  as  a  rule;  and  often  between 
masters  and  slaves  there  was  warm  affection.  On  most  planta 
tions,  too,  where  the  owner's  family  resided,  master  and  mis 
tress  felt  a  high  sense  of  duty  to  their  helpless  "  charges,"  even 


508  THE  SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  607 

of  the  field-hand  class.1  But  the  majority  of  plantations  were 
managed  by  overseers,  drawn  from  the  lower  strata  of  the 
Whites,  brutalized  by  irresponsible  and  despotic  power,2  and 
forced  to  be  hard  taskmasters  by  the  system  under  which  they 
lived.  The  overseer's  reputation  as  a  valuable  man  depended 
solely  upon  the  number  of  bales  of  cotton  he  could  turn  out ; 
and  he  was  tempted  increasingly  to  drive  harder  and  more 
mercilessly. 

It  was  the  general  belief,  too,  that  the  Negro  would  work 
only  under  the  lash  or  the  fear  of  it ;  and  it  was  a  common  thing 
for  the  overseer  to  furnish  long  whips  to  the  "  drivers  "  (taken 
usually  from  the  more  brutal  slaves),  who  stalked  up  and  down 
between  the  rows  of  workers.  In  the  extreme  South,  it  was  not 
unheard  of  for  a  master  himself  to  avow  the  economic  policy  of 
working  to  death  his  gang  of  slaves  every  seven  years  or  so,  in 
favor  of  a  new  supply.  In  general,  however,  critical  observers 
had  to  confess  that  the  same  motives  which  secure  reasonable 
treatment  for  a  teamster's  horses  kept  the  slave  in  good  con 
dition. 

Among  the  worst  direct  evils  of  the  system  was  the  ruin  to 
family  life.  The  better  sort  of  Whites  tried  to  keep  slave 
families  together ;  but  legislation  did  not  compel  this  decency, 
and,  in  practice,  the  division  of  families  was  exceedingly 
common.  Indeed,  the  southern  branches  of  the  Protestant 
churches,  by  formal  resolution,  recognized  the  separate  sale  of 
a  husband  or  wife  as  a  true  "  divorce,"  and  permitted  "  remar- 

1  James  B.  Angell,  in  an  address  in  1910,  recounting  reminiscences  of  a 
horseback  journey  through  the  South  in  1850,  gave  a  forceful  illustration. 
On  a  certain  Carolina  plantation,  in  the  evening,  the  hostess  had  warmly  de 
nounced  Northern   antislavery  agitation.      In  the  early  morning  from  his 
window,  he  chanced  to  see  her  returning  from  the  group  of  Negro  cabins, 
where,  he  learned,  she  had  spent  the  later  hours  of  the  night  in  nursing  a 
dying  Negro  baby. 

2  State  laws  forbade  murdering  a  slave  at  the  whipping-post ;  but  a  loop 
hole  was  usually  provided  by  some  clause  pronouncing  the  owner  or  overseer 
guiltless  if  a  slave  "  died  "  as  the  result  of  only  "  moderate  correction."    In 
any  case,  a  Negro's  testimony  could  not  be  taken  against  a  White  man,  and 
often  the  merciless  overseer  was  the  only  White  present  at  his  crimes. 


§  608]  THE   ABOLITIONISTS  509 

riage  "  on  such  ground.  In  consequence  of  this  condition,  sex 
relations  remained  horribly  degraded  and  confused. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  South  pointed  to  the  pitiful  condition 
of  the  mass  of  White  labor  in  Northern  factories,  and  argued 
eagerly  that  the  slave  was  no  worse  off.  Said  DeBow's  Review, 
the  leading  Southern  periodical,  —  "Where  a  man  is  compelled 
to  labor  at  the  will  of  another,  and  to  give  him  much  the  greater 
portion  of  the  product  of  his  labor,  there  Slavery  exists;  and  it  is 
immaterial  by  what  sort  of  compulsion  the  will  of  the  laborer 
be  subdued.  It  is  what  no  human  being  would  do  without  some 
sort  of  compulsion — if  not  blows,  then  torture  to  his  will  by 
fear  of  starvation  for  himself  or  his  family." 

608.  The  new  aggressive  attitude  of  the  Slave  Power  was 
caused  in  some  degree  by  the  appearance  of  new  aggressive 
antislavery  workers,  known  as  Abolitionists,  who  cried  out  for 
immediate  and  complete  destruction  of  slavery.  For  some  years 
before  1830,  Benjamin  Lundy  had  published  at  Baltimore  TJie 
Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  devoted  to  this  teaching. 
In  1828  Lundy  found  a  greater  disciple  in  one  of  his  assistant 
printers,  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  Young,  poor,  friendless,  in 
1831  Garrison  began  in  Boston  the  publication  of  the  Liberator; 
and  the  first  number  (printed  on  paper  secured  with  difficulty 
on  credit,  and  set  up  wholly  by  Garrison's  own  hand)  carried 
at  its  head  a  declaration  of  war  :  — 

"  Let  Southern  oppressors  tremble  .  .  .  I  shall  strenuously  contend  for 
immediate  enfranchisement ...  I  will  be  as  harsh  as  truth  and  as  uncom 
promising  as  justice  ...  I  do  not  wish  to  think,  or  speak,  or  write,  with 
moderation  ...  I  am  in  earnest  —  I  will  not  equivocate — I  will  not  re 
treat  a  single  inch  —  AND  i  WILL  BE  HEARD." 

To  the  end,  this  remained  the  keynote  of  the  Garrisonian 
Abolitionists.  They  sought  to  arouse  the  moral  sense  of  the 
North  against  slavery  as  a  wrong  to  human  nature.  For  long 
years  their  vehemence  made  them  social  outcasts,  even  when 
they  were  not  in  danger  of  physical  violence.  Among  the 
group  were  Wendell  Phillips,  a  youth  of  high  social  position 
and  opportunity,  who  forsook  his  career  to  become  the  hated 


510 


THE   SLAVERY  STRUGGLE 


[§608 


and  despised  orator  of  the  Abolition  cause ;  Whittier,  the 
gentle  Quaker  poet,  whose  verse  rang  like  a  bugle  call ; 
Theodore  Parker,  a  Unitarian  minister  of  Boston,  "the 

terrible  pastor  of  Aboli 
tion  " ;  and,  at  a  later 
time,  James  Russell  Low 
ell,  whose  scathing  satire 
in  the  Biglow  Papers  struck 
most  effective  blows  for 
freedom,  and  whose  estab 
lished  position  helped  to 
make  Abolitionism  "  re 
spectable." 

Of  this  body  of  agita 
tors,    Garrison    remained 
the    most    extreme.      He 
could  see  no  part  of  the 
slaveholder's  side,  and  he 
dealt  only  in  stern  denun 
ciation  of  all  opponents  — 
STATUE  OF  WENDELL  PHILLIPS  in  the       and  even  of  moderate  sup- 
Boston  Public  Garden.  porters.   He  and  his  group 

had  no  direct  influence  upon  political  action  against  slavery. 
Many  of  them  disclaimed  desire  for  any  such  influence.  Gar 
rison  once  burned  in  public  a  copy  of  the  Constitution, 
defaming  it  as  "  a  Covenant  with  Death  and  an  agreement 
with  Hell " ;  and  the  only  political  action  advocated  by  him 
for  Northern  men  was  secession  by  the  free  States.1 

1  So,  too,  Lowell's  "Hosea  Biglow  "  exclaims:  — 

"  Ef  I'd  my  way,  I  bed  ruther 
We  should  go  to  work  an'  part,  — 
They  take  one  way,  we  take  t'other,  — 
Guess  it  wouldn:t  break  my  heart. 
Men  hed  ought  to  put  asunder 
Them  that  God  has  noways  jined  ; 
An'  I  shouldn't  gretly  wonder 
Ef  there's  thousands  of  my  mind." 


§610]  "MODERATE"   ABOLITIONISTS  511 

609.  A  more  moderate  group  of  Abolitionists  contained  such 
men  as  William  Elleiy  Channing,  James  Freeman  Clark, 
Thomas  Wentworth  Higgiiison,  and  Samuel  J.  May  (Unitarian 
ministers),  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Gerrit  Smith,  William  Jay, 
and  the  aged  Gallatin.  For  C banning' s  logical  but  temperate 
indictment  of  slavery,  Garrison,  however,  had  only  abuse.  On 
the  moderate  side,  Emerson  at  first  condemned  the  Garrisonian 
extremists  with  unaccustomed  harshness ;  but  later  he  said 
that  "  they  might  be  wrong-headed,  but  they  were  wrong-headed 
in  the  right  direction." 

Other  foes  of  slavery,  like  Lincoln,  rejected  the  name 
Abolitionist,  altogether,  and  believed  that  the  Garrisonian 
group  harmed  more  than  they  helped.  Such  a  charge  is  al 
ways  made  against  extreme  reformers.  Garrison  and  his 
friends  did  rouse  bitter  antagonism  and  make  their  opponents 
more  aggressive  :  but  they  achieved  their  purpose  by  being  "heard." 
The  nation  would  have  been  glad  to  forget  the  wrongs  of 
slavery  :  these  men  made  that  impossible  —  sometimes  by  ex 
aggerating  and  misrepresenting  those  wrongs — and  they  trusted 
to  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  to  do  the  rest.  They  made 
slavery  a  topic  of  discussion  at  every  Northern  fireside,  —  and 
slavery  could  not  stand  discussion. 

610.  A  slaveholding  community  lives  always  over  a  sleep 
ing  volcano.  The  unspoken  dread  of  all  southern  Whites  was  a 
possible  slave  insurrection,  with  its  unimaginable  horrors.  Earlier 
in  the  century,  two  plots  had  been  discovered,  by  fortunate  acci 
dents,  just  in  time  to  avert  terrible  disaster.  Then,  in  1831, 
came  Nat  Turner's  rising. 

Turner  was  a  Negro  preacher  arid  slave  in  Virginia.  The 
plot  so  far  miscarried  that  only  a  handful  of  slaves  took  part ; 
but  sixty  Whites,  including  several  children,  were  ferociously 
massacred,  and,  before  order  was  restored,  a  hundred  Negroes 
(five  times  the  number  in  the  rising)  were  shot,  hanged,  tor 
tured,  or  burned.  The  South  was  thrown  into  a  frenzy  of 
terror  and  rage.  Excited  opinion  charged  that  the  rising  was 
due  directly  to  inflammatory  articles  in  Garrison's  Liberator. 


512  THE   SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  611 

Southern  States  enacted  stricter  laws  against  the  education 
and  freedom  of  movement  of  slaves,  and  even  of  free  Negroes, 
and  the  legislature  of  Georgia  offered  a  reivard  of  $5000  to  any 
kidnaper  ivho  should  bring  Garrison  to  that  State  for  trial  under 
her  laws  against  inciting  servile  insurrection. 

611.  The  Slave  Power  now  attacked  the  rights  of  White  men. 
After  1831  the  former  freedom  of  discussion  about  slavery 
vanished  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line.  Antislavery 
societies  dissolved ;  antislavery  meetings  could  no  longer  find 
halls  or  audiences ;  antislavery  publications  were  forced  out. 
In  many  cases  these  ends  were  secured  by  mob  violence. 

In  1835  James  G.  Birney,  a  Kentuckian  who  had  long  worked 
valiantly  against  slavery  in  Alabama  and  in  his  native  State, 
was  driven  to  move  his  antislavery  paper  across  the  Ohio  to 
Cincinnati.  Even  there,  his  office  was  sacked,  and  his  life 
sought,  by  a  bloodthirsty  proslavery  mob,  largely  from  Ken 
tucky,  while  respectable  Cincinnati  citizens  merely  advised 
him  to  seek  safety  in  silence. 

This  was  in  1836.  The  year  before,  a  Boston  mob,  "  in  broad 
cloth  and  silk  hats,"  had  broken  up  one  of  Garrison's  meetings, 
gutted  his  printing  office,  and  dragged  Garrison  himself  through 
the  streets  by  a  rope  around  his  body  —  until  he  was  rescued 
and  protected  by  the  mayor  by  being  jailed!  And  in  Alton, 
Illinois,  the  year  after  (1837),  mobs  twice  sacked  the  office  of 
Elijah  Lovejoy,  an  Abolitionist  editor,  and  finally  murdered 
Lovejoy,  when  he  tried  to  defend  his  property  from  a  third 
assault. 

A  free  press  was  the  particular  object  of  attack  ;  and  for 
many  years  practically  every  Abolitionist  paper  in  cities  large 
or  small  ran  danger  of  such  destruction.  Scores  of  cases  might 
be  given.  In  the  little  frontier  village  of  St.  Cloud,  Minnesota, 
a  proslavery  mob  sacked  the  printing  office  of  Mrs.  Jane  G. 
Swisshelm,  and  threw  her  press  into  the  Mississippi. 

There  was  this  difference  in  the  matter,  however,  between 
North  and  South.  In  the  South,  discussion  was  absolutely 
strangled.  In  the  North,  Lovejoy  was  the  only  martyr  to  suffer 


§  613]  AND   FREE   SPEECH  513 

death ;   and  resolute  men  and  women  found  it  possible  to  con 
tinue  the  discussion,  and  eventually  to  win  a  hearing.1 

Respectable  people  and  large  property  interests  showed  a  curious  cow 
ardice  in  these  conflicts.  Alton,  in  a  measure,  was  dependent  upon 
trade  from  the  Missouri  side  of  the  Mississippi.  Cincinnati's  prosperity, 
in  like  fashion,  was  supposed  to  depend  upon  Kentucky  trade.  In  both 
towns  the  cry  arose  that  antislavery  publications  alienated  the  Slave 
State  visitors  and  customers,  and  "hurt  business";  and,  before  this 
direful  threat,  mayors,  ministers,  bankers,  and  every  newspaper  in  both 
cities  were  whipped  into  submission. 

612.  These  mob  attacks  upon  free  speech  were  ominous  to 
all  men  who  really  cared  for  their  own  rights,  and  they  sum 
moned  to  the  antislavery  cause  many  who  had    never  been 
moved   by  wrong  to   the   Negro.     Still  more  significant  were 
demands  by  the  South  that  the  National   government   and   the 
Northern  States  should  by  law  stifle  discussion. 

In  1835,  in  response  to  vehement  appeals  from  Southern 
legislatures,  President  Jackson  recommended  Congress  to  pass 
laws  that  would  exclude  "  incendiary  publications  "  from  the 
mails.  "  But,"  cried  antislavery  men  —  and  many  others  never 
before  so  counted  — "  Wlio  is  to  judge  what  is  incendiary? 
On  such  a  charge,  the  Bible  or  the  Constitution  might  be  ex 
cluded."  And  after  a  sharp  struggle,  the  bill  failed  to  pass. 

613.  Then  followed  an  even  more  arrogant  attempt  to  destroy 
the  ancient  right  of  petition.     Since  1820,  petitions  had  poured 
upon  Congress  in  ever  increasing  bulk  for  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.     In  the  ordinary  course,  such 
a  petition  was  referred  to  an  appropriate  committee,  and  if 
ever  reported  upon,  it  was  rejected.     But  in  1836,  the  sensitive 
Southern  members  secured  a  "  gag  resolution  "  which  each  new 
Congress  for  eight  years  incorporated  in  its  standing  rules,  — 
so  that  all  petitions  concerning  slavery  should  be  "  laid  on  the 
table  "  without  being  discussed  or  printed  or  read. 

1  At  St.  Cloud,  a  mass  meeting,  excited  not  in  behalf  of  Abolitionism,  but 
by  the  attack  upon  free  speech,  promptly  subscribed  money  to  replace  the 
press,  —  no  small  thing  in  a  petty  frontier  village  of  workingmen. 


514  THE   SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  614 

The  Slave  Power  thought  exultantly  that  it  had  choked  off 
discussion.  Instead,  it  had  merely  identified  the  antislavery 
movement  with  a  traditional  right  of  the  English-speaking 
people.  The  "  Old  Man  Eloquent,"  John  Quincy  Adams,  now 
Representative  from  a  Massachusetts  district  and  formerly 
indifferent  to  slavery,  crowned  his  long  public  life  with  its 
chief  glory  by  standing  forth  as  the  unconquerable  champion 
of  the  right  of  petition,  —  which,  he  insisted,  meant  that  his 
constituents  and  others  had  not  merely  the  right  to  send 
petitions  to  the  Congressional  waste-paper  basket,  but  the  right 
to  have  their  petitions  read  and  considered.  Tireless,  skillful, 
indomitable,  unruffled  by  tirades  of  abuse,  quick  to  take  advan 
tage  of  all  parliamentary  openings,  Adams  wore  out  his  oppo 
nents  and  roused  the  country ;  and  in  1844  the  gag  rule  was 
abandoned. 

614,  Thus  while  Garrisonian  Abolitionists  were  trying  to 
persuade  the  North  that  slavery  was  a  moral  wrong  to  the 
Negro,  the  folly  of  the  Slave  Power  called  into  being  a  new  Aboli 
tionist  party  which  thought  of  slavery  first  and  foremost  as  dan 
gerous  to  Northern  rights.  This  party  went  into  politics  to  limit 
slavery  by  all  constitutional  means  in  the  hope  of  sometime 
ending  it.  The  "  political  Abolitionists "  were  strongest  in 
the  Middle  and  North  Central  States  ;  and  among  their  leading 
representatives  were  Birney  and  the  young  lawyer,  Salmon  P. 
Chase. 

"Like  thousands  of  other  antislavery  men  .  .  .  Chase  was  aroused, 
not  by  the  wrongs  of  the  slave,  but  by  the  dangers  to  free  White  men. 
He  did  not  hear  the  cries  of  the  Covington  whipping  post  across  the  river 
[the  Ohio],  but  he  could  not  mistake  the  shouts  of  the  mob  which  de 
stroyed  Birney's  property  and  sought  his  life  ;  and  his  earliest  act  as  an 
antislavery  man  was  to  stand  for  the  everyday  right  of  a  fellow  resident  of 
Cincinnati  to  express  his  mind."  Hart,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  48. 


CHAPTER   LIII 
SLAVERY  AND  EXPANSION 

615.  IN  1825,  Mexico  became  independent  of  Spain  (§  504) 
and  decreed  gradual  emancipation  of  all  slaves.     In  1835,  Santa 
Anna  made  himself  dictator  of  the  country.     Texas  was  one  of 
the  States  of  Mexico.    Its  settlers  were  mainly  from  the  South 
western  States  of  our  Union.     They  held  slaves,  and  until  Santa 
Anna's  usurpation,  they  had  had  a  large  amount  of  self-govern 
ment.     Now  they  seceded  from  Mexico,  organized  an  independent 
state,  with  slavery,  and  chose  for  their  president "  Sam  "  Houston, 
a  famous  Indian  fighter  and  an  old  friend  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

A  Mexican  army  "  invaded  "  Texas,  captured  a  small  Texan 
garrison  in  the  Alamo  (a  fortified  Mission),  after  a  gallant 
resistance,  and  massacred  every  prisoner.  April  21,  1836,  it 
met  the  main  body  of  Texan  frontiersmen  under  Houston  at 
San  Jacinto.  The  Texans  charged  six  times  their  number  with 
the  vengeful  cry,  "  Remember  the  Alamo,"  and  won  a  complete 
victory.  The  independence  of  Texas  was  promptly  recognized 
by  the  United  States.  Mexico,  however,  did  not  give  up  her 
claims. 

616.  The  Texans  hoped  to  be  annexed  to  the  United  States. 
Indeed,  many  of  them  had  gone  to  the  country  years  before 
with  that  express  plan  —  as  other  Americans  still  earlier  had 
gone  into  West  Florida  (§  464).     War  between  the  United  States 
and  the  proud  and  sensitive  Mexicans  would  almost  certainly 
follow  ;  but  our  South,  too,  clamored  for  the  annexation.     Texas 
was    an   immense    territory,  and  was    expected    to    make  at 
least  five  slave  States.     The   West,  also,  was  eager  for  more 
territory,  and  had  few  scruples  against  fighting  Mexico  to  get 
it ;  but  in  the  Northwest  there  was  some  opposition  to  extending 
the  area  of  slavery.     New  England  opposed  annexation  fiercely. 

515 


516  SLAVERY  AND  EXPANSION  [§  617 

In  1844  President  Tyler  negotiated  with  Texas  an  annexa 
tion  treaty,  but  the  Whig  Senate  rejected  it  by  a  decisive 
vote.  Shortly  before,  John  Quiiicy  Adams  and  twenty-one 
other  Northern  members  of  Congress  had  united  in  a  letter  to 
their  constituents  advising  New  England  to  secede  from  the 
Union  if  Tyler's  "  nefarious  "  scheme  went  through.  (§  Of.  608.) 
On  the  other  side,  "fire-eating"  Southerners  were  shouting, 
"  Texas  or  disunion  ! " 

617.  The  Slave  Power  now  raised  the  cry  that  England  would 
get  Texas  if  we  did  not,  and  it  played  artfully  on  the  sentiment 
for  expansion.  Calhoun  warned  the  slave  States  of  the  South 
west  that  England  was  trying  to  persuade  Texas  to  abolish 
slavery  ;  and  the  Northwest  was  won  over  by  the  shrewd  device  of 
combining  with  the  demand  for  Texas  a  demand  for  "  all  of 
Oregon" 

Oregon  was  a  vast  territory  bounded  by  the  42nd  parallel  on  the  South 
(§  503)  and  by  the  line  of  54°,  40'  on  the  North  (§505).  The  agreement 
with  England  for  "joint  occupation"  was  still  in  force  (§  503  )  ;  but  of 
late  thousands  of  emigrants  had  been  setting  forth  from  Missouri  with  the 
boast  that  they  would  secure  and  hold  the  country  for  the  United  States. 
Twice  England  had  proposed  a  division  of  the  region ;  but  the  plan  had 
been  rejected  by  our  government. 

In  the  spring  of  1844,  Clay  and  Van  Buren  were  the  leading 
candidates  for  the  Whig  and  Democratic  nominations  for  the 
presidency.  On  April  20  they  each  gave  out  a  public  letter  on 
political  issues,  and  both  advised  against  agitation  for  expan 
sion.  The  country  exclaimed  that  the  two  leaders  were  trying 
in  secret  conjunction  to  say  what  the  people  should  not  do. 
The  Whigs,  with  some  hesitation,  submitted,  and  nominated 
Clay.  The  Democrats  revolted.  Three  Southern  States  that 
had  instructed  delegates  for  Van  Buren  called  new  conventions 
and  revoked  the  instructions.  The  Democratic  National  Con 
vention  nominated  James  K.  Polk,  and  the  platform  declared 
for  "the  ^occupation  of  Oregon  and  the  jReannexation  of 
Texas.'7  In  the  Northwest,  Democratic  stump  orators  at  once 
added  the  slogan  "Fifty-four  forty  or  fight."  This  war  cry 


§  620]  TEXAS,    1836-1845  517 

was  sounded  jubilantly  in  every  Democratic  meeting  in  the 
campaign.  Some  Western  leaders  did  not  hesitate  to  promise 
that  their  party  would  also  get  California  and  Canada  for  the 
United  States,  and  hinted  even  at  Mexico  and  Central  America. 

618.  The  political  Abolitionists  (  §  614),  under  the  name  of  the 
Liberty  party,  nominated  Birney,  and  drew  enough  antislavery 
votes  from  the  Whigs  in  New  York  to  give  that  close  State,  and 
the  election,  to  Polk.     Tyler  and  Congress  accepted  this  result 
as  a  verdict  for  annexation ;  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  old 
administration  a  "joint  resolution"  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress  made  Texas  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union  (March  3,  1845). 
Texas,  however,  never  consented  to  be  divided,  and  so  the 
Slave  Power  gained  less  power  in  the   Senate  than  it  had 
planned. 

619.  Polk's  inaugural  indicated  the  intention  to  take  all  of 
Oregon,  even  at  the  cost  of  war  with  England.     Such  Western 
supporters  as  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois  and  Lewis  Cass  of 
Michigan  seemed  ready  for  that  result.      Calhoun  and  other 
Southern  leaders,  however,  feared  that  war  with  England  might 
end  in  loss  of  Texas ;  Webster,  powerful  in  the  Senate,  stood 
for  compromise,  as  did  also  some  enthusiastic  Western  expan 
sionists  like  Benton ;   England  renewed  her  sensible  offer  to 
divide  Oregon,  by  extending  the  boundary  line  of  the  49th  par 
allel  (already  adopted  east  of  the  mountains)  through  the  dis 
puted  district  to  the  Pacific ;  and  a  treaty  to  this  effect  was 
ratified  by  our  Senate.      The  dividing  line  was   practically 
identical  with  the  Northern  watershed  of  the  Columbia  ;  and  it 
gave  us  all  that  we  could  claim  on  the  basis  of  "  occupation," 
leaving  to  England  that  half  of  the  district  which  Englishmen 
had  "  occupied."      The  Northwest,  however,  claimed  bitterly 
that  its  interests  had  been  betrayed  by  the  President,  and  that 
he  had  surrendered  to  England's  power  in  order  the  better  to 
prey  on  Mexico'  s  weakness. 

620.  Polk  wanted  California  also,  to  which  we  had  no  claim 
whatever.     He  tried  to  buy,  but  could  not  bully  Mexico  into 
selling  the  coveted  district.     But  other  means  remained. 


518  SLAVERY  AND  EXPANSION  [§  621 

Texas  extended  without  question  to  the  Nueces  River.  Not 
content  with  that  southern  boundary,  she  claimed  to  the  Rio 
Grande  —  on  grounds  at  least  questionable.  For  the  United 
States  to  back  up  this  claim  was  to  make  war  with  Mexico 
certain.  General  Zachary  Taylor,  in  command  of  American 
troops  in  Texas,  was  ordered  to  remove  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
where  his  position  threatened  a  Mexican  city  across  the  river. 
The  Mexicans  demanded  a  withdrawal.  Taylor  refused,  was 
attacked,  won  a  victory,  and  crossed  the  river.  Polk  announced 
to  Congress  (May  11,  1846),  "War  exists,  and,  notwithstanding 
all  our  efforts  to  avoid  it^  exists  by  the  act  of  Mexico !  "  Con 
gress  accepted  the  pretext  and  adopted  the  war. 

621.  Abolitionists  again  talked  secession.     But,  outside  New 
England,  the  unjust  war  was  popular.     Certainly  it  was  waged 
brilliantly.     General  Taylor  invaded  from  the  north,  and  Gen 
eral  Winfield  Scott  advanced  from  the  Gulf.     The  Mexicans 
were  both  brave  and  subtle ;  but  American  armies  won  amazing 
victories  over  larger  entrenched  forces,  and  the  contest  closed 
with  the  spectacular  storming  of  the  fortified  heights  of  Cha- 
pultepec  and  the  capture  of  the  City  of  Mexico  (September  15, 
1847). 

622.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  American  troops  had  been 
dispatched  to  seize  California  and  New  Mexico  (territory  which 
included,  besides  the  modern  States  of  those  names,  most  of  the 
present  Arizona,  Nevada,  Utah,  and  parts  of  Colorado  and 
Wyoming).    In  the  treaty  of  peace,  after  ceding  Texas  as  far  as 
the  Rio  Grande,  Mexico  was  forced  to  accept  $15,000,000  for 
this  other  territory.     Members  of  the  President's  Cabinet  wanted 
to  take  all  of  Mexico ;  Buchanan,  Secretary  of  State,  publicly 
declared,  "  Destiny  beckons  us  to  hold  and  civilize  Mexico  "  ;  and 
the  press  boasted  confidently  that  the  American  flag  in  the  City 
of  Mexico  would  never  be  hauled  down.     But  Polk  wisely  in 
sisted  upon  a  more  moderate  policy,  and  took  (and  paid  for) 
only  what  he  had  offered  to  buy  before  he  began  the  war. 

623.  A  misunderstanding  soon  arose  as  to  some  forty-five 
thousand  square  miles  of  the  "  Mexican  cession,"  just  south  of 


§  623]  WAR  WITH  MEXICO  519 

the  Gila ;  and  Mexico  threatened  to  fight  again  rather  than 
surrender  her  claim.  Finally,  in  1853,  the  United  States  secured 
full  title  by  paying  ten  million  dollars  more,  through  our  agent, 
Gadsden. 

This  Gadsden  Purchase  was  the  last  expansion  of  our  territory 
before  the  overthrow  of  slavery ;  but  it  was  not  the  last  attempt 
by  the  Slave  Power.  Southern  politicians  had  long  looked  with 
covetous  desire  at  Cuba.  Polk  offered  Spain  a  hundred  million 
dollars  for  the  island,  but  was  refused.  Then,  about  1854, 
Southern  leaders  were  ready  for  a  more  extreme  program,  and 
began  frankly  to  advocate  the  seizure  of  Cuba  by  force.1  This 
piratical  doctrine  was  set  forth  with  particular  emphasis  in  that 
year  in  the  famous  Ostend  Manifesto,  a  document  published  in 
Europe  by  a  group  of  leading  American  diplomatic  representa 
tives  there,  with  James  Buchanan  among  them.  When  Bu 
chanan  became  President  (1857),  he  renewed  the  attempts  to  buy 
Cuba  and  to  secure  slave  territory  in  Central  America.  These 
sinister  efforts  ceased  only  when  the  Civil  War  began. 

1In  1851  the  Lopez  "filibusters,"  five  hundred  strong,  sailed  from  New 
Orleans  to  invade  Cuba.  This,  and  other  like  attempts  upon  Central  America, 
may  well  be  studied  by  individual  students,  and  presented  in  special  reports.  It 
is  to  be  kept  in  mind  that  whatever  the  motives  of  the  statesmen  at  Washington, 
the  filibusters  themselves,  and  the  Southern  people  back  of  them,  were  im 
pelled  largely  by  the  ancient  land  hunger  and  spirit  of  conquest  and  adven 
ture  which  had  brought  their  ancestors  to  Virginia  and  had  sent  their  brothers 
to  Texas. 


CHAPTER   LIV 
THE  STRUGGLE  TO  CONTROL  THE  NEW  TERRITORY 

624.  Population  increased  in  the  decade  1840-1850  from  sev 
enteen  to  twenty-three  millions.     Immigration  from  Europe  now 
took  on  large  proportions.     Until  1845,  no  one  year  had  brought 
100,000  immigrants  (§  486).     That  year  brought  114,000  ;  1847 
(during   the  Irish  famine)  brought  235,000;  and  1849  (after 
the  European  "  year  of  revolution "*)  brought  almost  300,000. 
This  tremendous  current,  once  started,  continued  unabated  to 
the  Civil  War.     It  still  came  almost  wholly  from  the  northern 
European  countries,  and  was  composed  mainly  of  sturdy  labor 
ing  men,  who  naturally  avoided  the  South  with  its  slave  labor. 

Florida  became  a  State  in  1845 ;  but  Slavery's  gain  in  the 
Senate  through  the  addition  of  that  State  and  of  Texas  was 
balanced  by  the  admission  of  Iowa  (1846)  and  Wisconsin  (1848). 
In  the  lower  House  of  Congress  the  free  States  had  nearly 
a  half  more  members  than  the  Slave  States.  This  situation  gave 
especial  importance  to  the  question  whether  slavery  or  freedom 
should  control  the  new  territory  acquired  from  Mexico.  All  that 
territory,  except  Texas,  had  been  "  free  "  territory  under  Mexican 
law.  But  in  the  Northwest  were  looming  up  a  band  of  future 
"free"  commonwealths,  from  Minnesota  to  Oregon,  while  outside 
this  Mexican  cession  there  was  no  chance  for  more  Slave  States. 

625.  As  soon  as  war  began,  the  President  had  asked  Congress 
for  a  grant  of  two  million  dollars  to  enable  him  to  negotiate  to 
advantage.     It  was  understood  that  this  money  was  to  be  used 
as  a  first  payment  in  satisfying  Mexico  for  territory  to  be  taken 
from  her.     To  this  "  Two-Million-Dollar  Bill "  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  David  Wilmot,  a  Pennsylvania  Democrat,  se- 

1  Cf.  Modern  World,  §  711.  The  German  fugitives,  after  the  failure  of  their 
gallant  attempt  at  revolution,  made  a  notable  addition  to  the  forces  of  Liberty 
in  America.  Among  them  were  Carl  Schurz  and  Franz  Sigel. 

520 


§  626]  THE  WILMOT  PROVISO  521 

cured  an  amendment  providing  that  slavery  should  never  exist 
in  any  territory  (outside  Texas)  to  be  so  acquired.  Northwestern 
Democrats  voted  almost  solidly  for  this  Wilmot  Proviso,  partly 
from  real  reluctance  to  see  slavery  extended,  partly  to  punish 
Polk  and  the  Slave  Power  for  "  betraying  "  the  Northwest  in 
the  Oregon  matter. 

The  session  expired  (August,  1846)  before  a  vote  was 
reached  in  the  Senate.  In  the  next  session  the  Proviso  again 
passed  the  lower  House,  but  was  voted  down  in  the  Senate, 
where  the  Slave  Power  had  now  rallied.  Then  (February, 
1848)  Calhoun  presented  the  Southern  program  in  a  set  of 
resolutions  affirming  that,  since  the  territories  were  the  com 
mon  domain  of  all  the  States,  Congress  had  no  constitutional 
power  to  forbid  the  people  of  any  part  of  the  Union,  with  their 
property,  from  seeking  homes  in  that  domain.  This  meant, 
of  course,  the  right  of  Southerners  to  carry  their  slaves  —  and 
slave  law  —  into  any  "  Territory."  Then,  said  the  South,  when 
the  time  for  Statehood  arrives,  let  the  inhabitants  of  each  Terri 
tory  decide  the  matter  of  slavery  or  freedom  for  themselves. 

This  was  the  doctrine  to  be  known  later  as  "  squatter  sove 
reignty  "  or  "  popular  sovereignty."  It  appealed  shrewdly  to  a 
liking  for  fair  play,  in  claiming  that  the  South  "  simply  asked 
not  to  be  denied  equal  rights  ...  in  the  common  public 
domain."  Even  more  powerfully  it  appealed  to  the  democratic 
instincts  of  the  West,  claiming  merely  to  turn  the  whole 
question  over  to  the  people  most  interested. 

626.  Some  Northern  congressmen  now  deserted  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  in  favor  of  "  non-intervention  by  Congress,"  while  others 
favored  extending  the  old  line  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  to 
the  Pacific.  Finally,  the  country  went  into  the  presidential 
election  of  1848  without  having  settled  any  civil  government  for 
the  vast  area  recently  acquired. 

This  neglect  was  serious.  New  Mexico  and  California  were  seats  of 
ancient  Spanish  settlement  at  such  centers  as  Santa  Fe"  and  the  various 
Missions  near  San  Francisco  ;  and  the  sensitive  and  highly  civilized  pop 
ulation  resented  military  government  by  the  American  conquerors. 


522  .  THE  SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  627 

Moreover,  in  January,  1848,  just  before  the  cession  by  Mexico,  gold  was 
discovered  in  California  at  Sutter's  Fort  (now  Sacramento).  Then  fol 
lowed  a  vast  and  varied  immigration,  which  needed  imperatively  a 
settled  government. 

627.  The  Whigs,  who  had  won  their  one  success  with  Gen 
eral   Harrison,  now   repeated   their   tactics   of   1840.      They 
adopted  no  platform  whatever,  and  nominated  Zachary  Taylor, 
of  Louisiana,  a  slaveholder,  a  straightforward  soldier,  and  the 
hero  of  the  war.     The  Democratic  platform  evaded  all  mention 
of  slavery  and  of  the  burning  Territorial  question ;  but  the 
presidential  candidate  was  Lewis  Cass  of  Michigan,  the  origi 
nator  of  the  "popular  sovereignty"  plan  for  Territories. 

The  antislavery  Democrats  had  hoped  to  nominate  Van  Buren, 
who  for  a  time  had  the  strongest  vote  in  the  Convention.1  An 
antislavery  faction  of  New  York  Democrats  ("  Barnburners  " 2) 
finally  seceded  from  the  Convention  and  did  place  Van  Buren 
in  nomination.  A  few  weeks  later,  he  was  nominated  also  by 
a  new  Free  Soil  party,  which  had  absorbed  the  Liberty  party. 
The  Free  Soilers  recognized  frankly  that  Congress  could  not 
interfere  with  slavery  in  the  /States,  but  they  insisted  on  its 
prohibition  in  the  Territories,  with  the  cry,  "Free  Speech, 
Free  Labor,  Free  Soil,  and  Free  Men."  They  cast  300,000 
votes  (five  times  as  many  as  the  Liberty  party  four  years  be 
fore).  In  most  of  the  country,  they  drew  mainly  from  the 
Whigs ;  but  in  New  York  their  Barnburner  allies  drew  from  Cass 
just  enough  to  give  that  State  (and  the  election)  to  the  Whigs. 

628.  Meantime,  California,  lacking  even  a  Territorial  govern 
ment,  grew  to  the  stature  of  Statehood.     Thousands  of  "  Forty- 
niners,'7  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe  (but  mainly  from  the 

i Democratic  National  Conventions  use  a  "two-thirds  rule,"  in  making 
nominations.  Other  parties  nominate  by  a  majority  vote. 

*  This  name,  derived  from  a  campaign  story  of  a  Dutchman  who  burned 
his  barn  to  get  rid  of  the  rats,  was  applied  in  derision,  because  the  faction 
avowed  a  willingness  to  ruin  its  party  rather  than  permit  slavery  in  the 
Territories.  The  "regular"  faction  of  the  Democratic  party  in  New  York 
became  known  as  Old  Hunkers.  Party  epithets  were  growing  bitter.  Cass 
and  other  Northern  men  who  showed  subserviency  to  the  Slave  Power  were 
coming  to  be  derided  as  "  Doughfaces." 


§  629J  FOR  CALIFORNIA  523 

Northern  States  of  the  Union),  rushed  to  the  rich  gold  fields 
some  around  Cape  Horn  by  ship  ;  some  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  j 
but  more  by  wagon  train  across  the  Plains,  defying  Indians 
and  the  more  terrible  Desert,  along  trails  marked  chiefly  by 
the  bleaching  skeletons  of  their  forerunners.  And  on  the  Pacific 
coast  itself,  whenever  rumor  reported  that  some  prospector  had 
"  struck  it  rich,"  distant  camps  and  towns  were  depopulated 
to  swell  the  new,  roaring  settlement,  —  toward  which,  over 
mountain  paths,  streamed  multitudes  of  reckless  men,  laden 
with  spade,  pickax,  and  camp  utensils.  In  a  few  months, 
the  mining  region  contained  some  eighty  thousand  adven 
turers.  To  maintain  rude  order  and  restrain  rampant  crime, 
the  better  spirits  among  the  settlers  adopted  regulations  and 
organized  Vigilance  Committees  to  enforce  them,  with  power  of 
life  and  death. 

On  taking  office,  President  Taylor  at  once  advised  New 
Mexico  and  California  to  organize  their  own  State  governments 
and  apply  for  admission  to  the  Union.  The  Californians 
acted  promptly  on  this  suggestion,  and  (November,  1849)  a 
convention  unanimously  adopted  a  "  free  State  "  constitution. 

Taylor  sought  to  keep  faith,  and  urged  Congress  to  admit 
the  new  State.  The  Slave  Power  raged  at  seeing  the  richest 
fruits  of  the  Mexican  War  slipping  from  its  grasp.  The 
country  was  aflame.  Every  Northern  legislature  but  one 
passed  resolutions  declaring  that  Congress  ought  to  shut  out 
slavery  from  all  the  new  territory.  In  the  South)  public  meet 
ings  and  legislatures  urged  secession  if  such  action  were  taken. 
Said  Toombs  of  Georgia  in  Congress,  "  I  .  .  .  avow  ...  in 
the  presence  of  the  living  God,  that  if  ...  you  seek  to  drive 
us  from  California,  ...  I  am  for  disunion." 

629.  Taylor  died  suddenly  in  July,  1850,  to  be  succeeded  by 
Fillmore  from  the  vice  presidency.  This  gave  a  breathing 
spell,  and  Clay  came  forward  once  more  with  a  compromise,  aim 
ing  to  reconcile  the  South  to  the  loss  of  California  by  giving 
them  their  will  on  other  disputed  points.  Proud  of  his  title 
of  "  the  Great  Pacificator,"  he  pled  for  "  a  union  of  hearts  " 


524 


THE    SLAVERY  STRUGGLE 


[§  630 


between  North  and  South  through  mutual  concession:  other 
wise,  he  feared  there  was  little  chance  for  the  survival  of  the 
political  Union  which  he  loved. 

Clay's  "Omnibus"  measures  were  supported  by  the  new 
President,  and  finally  passed  in  separate  bills  after  a  strenuous 

eight  months'  debate. 
They  provided  for :  (1)  the 
admission  of  the  u  free " 
California ;  (2)  Territorial 
organization  of  New  Mex 
ico  and  Utah  on  "  squatter- 
sovereignty  "  principles ; 
(3)  prohibition  of  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of 
Columbia ;  and  (4)  a  new 
and  more  effective  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Law,  with  all 
the  abominations  of  the 
old  one.  This  was  the 
"Compromise  of  1850,"  — 
the  last  compromise  on 
slavery.  Many  Southern 
Representatives  voted  No, 
in  order  that  the  measure, 
if  passed  at  all,  should  be 
passed  by  Northern  votes  (Map  opposite). 

630.  It  was  Webster  who  really  secured  the  passage  of 
the  compromise.  He  had  bitterly  opposed  the  annexation 
of  Texas  and  the  war;  but  now  he  urged  that  the  North 
owed  concession  to  the  weaker  South.  Moreover,  slave  labor, 
he  was  sure,  could  never  be  profitable  in  sterile  New  Mexico. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  exclude  it  by  law  of  Congress :  it 
was  already  excluded  "  by  the  law  of  nature."  He  "  would 
not  take  pains  to  reenact  the  will  of  God." 

To-day  the  historical  student  is  inclined  to  say  that  this 
"  Seventh  of  March  "  speech  was  dictated  by  deep  love  for  the 


HENRY  CLAY  in  old  age.    From  a 
portrait  by  Peale. 


630] 


THE   COMPROMISE   OF   1850 


525 


Test  Vote 

on  the 

Compromise  of  185O 

in  the 

House  of  Representatives 

(Septembers.  1850) 

For,  108 

l^  Against,  98 
|  \No  Vote,  IS 


2 

^~*-T? 


Union.  Webster  never  had  been  optimistic  in  temperament 
Now  an  old  man,  he  did  not  venture  to  hope  that  there  could 
ever  be  a  better  Union,  while  he  even  began  to  despair  of  the 
existing  one  unless  the  South  was  pacified.  At  the  moment, 
however,  the  antislavery  men  of  the  North  felt  that  he  played 
a  traitor's  part  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  in  order  to  secure 
Southern  support  for  the  presidency. 


526  THE   SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  630 

The  finest  expression  of  this  antislavery  wrath  is  in  the  stern  condem 
nation  of  Whittier's  Ichabod :  — 

"From  those  great  eyes 

The  soul  has  fled. 
When  faith  is  lost,  when  honor  dies, 

The  man  is  dead. 

"  Then,  pay  the  reverence  of  old  days 

To  his  dead  fame. 
Walk  backward,  with  averted  gaze, 

And  hide  the  shame." 

Emerson  wrote  with  barbed  insight  :  "Mr.  Webster,  perhaps,  is  only 
following  the  laws  of  his  blood  and  constitution.  ...  He  is  a  man 
who  lives  by  his  memory  :  a  man  of  the  past ;  not  a  man  of  faith  and  hope. 
All  the  drops  of  his  blood  have  eyes  that  look  downward.'''  And  says 
Rhodes  (History,  1, 153)  of  Webster's  advocacy  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law : 
"  Webster  could  see  '  an  ordinance  of  nature  '  and  '  the  will  of  God  '  writ 
ten  on  the  mountains  and  plateaus  of  New  Mexico  ;  but  he  failed  to  see 
...  the  will  of  God  implanted  in  the  hearts  of  freemen." 

Calhoun,  dying  and  despairing,  opposed  the  compromise  as 
insufficient.  If  the  North  wished  to  preserve  the  Union,  he 
urged,  it  must  concede  some  kind  of  political  equilibrium  between 
itself  and  the  weaker  South.  His  papers  show  that  he  meant 
to  propose  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  providing  for 
two  Presidents,  one  from  each  section,  with  a  mutual  veto. 
But  like  his  great  rivals,  Clay  and  Webster,  he  passed  from 
political  life  with  this  debate. 

More  significant  than  the  attitude  of  these  statesmen  of  a 
passing  day  was  the  appearance  of  a  new  group  of  antislavery 
men,  led  by  William  H.  Seward  of  New  York.  Like  Calhoun 
Seward  opposed  the  compromise,  but  for  opposite  reasons.  He 
insisted  that  peace  between  the  sections  could  come  only  with 
the  extinction  of  slavery.  As  to  the  Territories,  said  he  :  "  The 
Constitution  devotes  the  Domain  to  ...  liberty.  .  .  .  But 
there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution,  which  devotes  it  to 
the  same  noble  purpose."  This  "  Higher-Law  "  speech  was  to 
exert  more  lasting  influence  in  our  history  than  the  speech  of 
"  the  Seventh  of  March." 


CHAPTER   LV 
THE  BREAKDOWN  OF  COMPROMISE 

631.  IT  has  been  fitly  said  that  the  Union  was  maintained 
from  1789  to  1820  by  the  compromises  in  the  Constitution,  and 
from  1820  to  1861  by  Congressional  compromises.     Political  lead 
ers  and  the  mass  of  the  people  were  desperately  anxious  to  con 
vince  themselves  that  the  Compromise  of  1850  was  final.     Any 
further  discussion  of  slavery  was  severely  reprobated  by  many 
Northern  men.     But,  exclaimed  James  Russell  Lowell,  "  To 
tell  us  that  we  ought  not  to  agitate  the  question  of  slavery, 
when  it  is  that  which  is  forever  agitating  us,  is  like  telling  a 
man  with  the  ague  to  stop  shaking  and  he  will  be  cured." 
The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  kept  men  thinking  about  slavery.     That  law 
was  the  great  mistake  of  the  Slave  Power.     Had  the  South 
been  content  to  lose  a  few  slaves  who  escaped  into  free  States,1 
the  compromise  might  have  endured  years  longer. 

In  his  "  Higher  Law  "  speech,  Seward  had  warned  the  South  :  "  You 
are  entitled  to  no  more  stringent  laws,  and  such  laws  would  be  useless. 
The  cause  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  present  statute  is  not  at  all  the  leniency 
of  its  provisions  :  it  is  the  public  sentiment  of  the  North.  .  .  .  Your  Con 
stitution  and  laws  convert  hospitality  to  the  refugee  .  .  .  into  a  crime ; 
but  all  mankind  except  you  esteem  that  hospitality  a  virtue."  And 
Emerson  called  the  law  "a  law  which  every  one  of  you  will  break  on 
the  earliest  occasion  —  a  law  which  no  man  can  obey,  or  abet,  without 
loss  of  self-respect  and  forfeiture  of  the  name  of  gentleman." 

632.  The  law  could  be  applied  to  Negroes  who  had  been 
living  for  years  in  the  North  in  supposed  safety  —  since  the 
breakdown  of  the  law  of  1793  (§  384).     Thousands  abandoned 

1  From  1830  to  1860  the  number  averaged  not  more  than  1000  a  year.  A  small 
insurance  would  have  protected  the  owners. 

527 


528 


THE  SLAVERY  STRUGGLE 


[§  632 


their  homes  for  hurried  flight  to  Canada;  and  some  were 
actually  seized  by  slave  hunters.  More  attempts  to  recapture 
fugitive  slaves  took  place  in  1851  than  in  all  our  history  before. 
But  now  every  seizure  caused  a  tumult  —  if  not  a  riot.  Even 


PROCLAMATION ! ! 

TO    ALL 


THE  GOOD  PEOPLE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS! 

Be  it  known  that  there  are  now 
THREE  SLAVE-HUNTERS  OR  KIDNAPPERS 


Looking  for  their  prey.    One  of  them  is  called 
"DAVIS." 

He  is  an  unusually  ill-looking  fellow,  about  five  feet  eight  inches  high, 
wide-shouldered.  He  has  a  big  mouth,  black  hair,  and  a  good  deal  of  dirty 
bushy  hair  on  the  lower  part  of  his  face.  He  has  a  Roman  nose;  one  of  his 
eyes  has  been  knocked  out.  He  looks  like  a  Pirate,  and  knows  how  to  be 
a  Stealer  of  Men. 

The  next  is  called 
EDWARD   BARRETT. 

He  is  about  five  feet  six  inches  high,  thin  and  lank,  is  apparently  about 
thirty  years  old.  His  nose  turns  up  a  little.  He  has  a  long  mouth,  long 
thin  ears,  and  dark  eyes.  His  hair  is  dark,  and  he  has  a  bunch  of  fur  on 
his  chin.  .  .  .  He  wears  his  shirt  collar  turned  down,  and  has  a  black 
string  —  not  of  hemp  — about  his  neck. 

The  third  ruffian  is  named 
ROBERT  M.  BACON,  alias  JOHN  D.  BACON. 

He  is  about  fifty  years  old,  five  feet  and  a  half  high.  He  has  a  red, 
intemperate-looking  face,  and  a  retreating  forehead.  His  hair  is  dark,  and 
a  little  gray.  He  wears  a  black  coat,  mixed  pants,  and  a  purplish  vest.  He 
looks  sleepy,  and  yet  malicious. 

Given  at  Boston,  this  4th  day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1851,  and 
of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the  eighty-fourth. 

God  save  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  ! 


A  HANDBILL  OF  1851,  GIVEN  IN  RHODES,  I,  212. 
(Notice  that  it  parodies  the  form  of  advertisements  for  escaped  slaves.) 

"  proslavery  "  men  in  the  North  could  not  stand  for  the  hunting 
of  slaves  at  their  own  doors.  Legislatures  refused  to  United 
States  officials  the  use  of  State  jails,  forbade  State  officers  to 
aid  in  executing  the  law,  and  enacted  various  "personal-liberty 


§  633]  SLAVE   HUNTING  IN   THE  NORTH  529 

laws"  to  secure  to  any  man  seized  as  an  escaped  slave  those 
rights  of  jury  trial  and  legal  privilege  which  the  Federal  law 
denied  him.  Some  of  these  State  laws  amounted  to  downright 
Nullification.1  The  "  Underground  Railroad  "  2  was  extended. 
In  several  cases,  fugitives  were  rescued  from  the  officers  in  full 
day  by  "  mobs "  of  such  high-minded  gentlemen  as  Thomas 
Wentworth  Higginson,  Samuel  J.  May,  and  Gerrit  Smith. 
These  men  sometimes  avowed  their  deed  in  the  public  press, 
and  challenged  prosecution ;  and  all  attempts  to  punish  broke 
down,  because  no  jury  would  convict.  When  a  slave  was  re 
turned,  the  recapture  usually  proved  to  have  cost  the  master 
more  than  the  man  could  be  sold  for. 

In  February,  1851,  a  mob  of  Negroes  rescued  a  fugitive  out  of  the 
hands  of  Federal  officers  in  Boston  and  carried  him  in  triumph  through 
applauding  streets,  where,  fifteen  years  before,  Garrison  had  been  dragged 
in  ignominy  by  a  White  mob.  And  when  the  slave  Burns  was  sent  back 
to  slavery,  after  bloody  riots,  and  a  cost  to  the  government  of  $  100,000, 
it  took  1100  soldiers  and  a  battalion  of  artillery  to  convey  him  through 
those  streets  —  which  were  all  draped  in  mourning. 

633.  Still,  in  the  campaign  of  1852,  the  platforms  of  both  the 
leading  parties  indorsed  the  "  Compromise  "  emphatically,3  with 
express  reference  also  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  provision;  and 

1  The  Wisconsin  legislative  resolutions  of  1859  used  the  words  of  the  old 
Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1799. 

2  An  arrangement  among  Abolitionists  in  the  Border  States  for  concealing 
fugitives  and  forwarding  them  to  Canada.    The  system  had  its  "stations," 
"junctions,"  "conductors,"  and  so  on. 

8  The  tendency  among  respectable  classes  at  the  North  to  cling  to  the  Com 
promise  was  especially  notable  in  the  Eastern  colleges,  —  where  there  were 
many  students  from  the  South.  Andrew  D.  White  says  that  in  the  Yale  of  the 
early  fifties  (when  he  was  a  student  there),  "  the  great  majority  of  older  pro 
fessors  spoke  at  public  meetings  in  favor  of  proslavery  compromises,"  though, 
"  except  for  a  few  theological  doctrinaires,"  their  personal  sympathies  were 
against  slavery.  The  two  great  Yale  professors  of  the  day  who  opposed  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  he  adds,  were  generally  condemned  for  'hurting  Yale,' 
and  driving  away  Southern  students.  White  is  a  distinguished  scholar, 
author,  and  diplomat,  —  the  first  President  of  Cornell  University  and  in  later 
years  Minister  to  Russia  and  Ambassador  to  Germany  and  a  United  States 
representative  at  the  First  Hague  Conference. 


530        SLAVERY  COMPROMISE  BREAKS  DOWN      [§  634 

when  Charles  Sumner  in  the  Senate  moved  the  repeal  of  that 
law,  he  found  only  three  votes  to  support  him.  In  the  presi 
dential  election,  too,  the  Free  Soil  vote  ("Free  Democracy," 
now)  fell  off  a  half ;  and  General  Scott,  the  Whig  candidate, 
who  was  believed  to  be  more  liberal  than  his  platform,  was 
easily  defeated  by  Franklin  Pierce,  who  gave  the  Compromise 
his  hearty  support. 

One  feature  of  the  election  of  1852  was  the  prominence  of  a  new  politi 
cal  party  which  called  itself  the  American  party,  but  which  is  better 
known  by  the  appellation  of  Know-nothings.  From  the  time  of  the 
Philadelphia  Convention,  bitter  attempts  had  been  made  now  and  again 
to  limit  the  political  influence  of  foreign  immigrants.  To  this  "native" 
prejudice  there  was  added,  after  the  Irish  immigration  of  the  late  forties, 
a  silly  fear  of  "Catholic"  domination.  The  new  party  was  a  secret 
society,  with  intricate  ramifications  and  elaborate  hierarchy.  Its  pur 
pose  was  to  exclude  from  office  all  but  native-born  and  all  not  in  sym 
pathy  with  this  program  ;  but  members  below  the  highest  grade  of  officials 
were  pledged  to  passive  obedience  to  orders,  and  were  instructed,  when 
questioned  as  to  party  secrets,  to  reply,  "I  know  nothing."  The  move 
ment  was  bigoted  in  character  and  un-American  in  methods;  but  it 
gained  considerable  strength  in  eastern  and  southern  States,  and  elected 
several  congressmen.  In  part,  the  movement  drew  its  strength  from  the 
desire  to  ignore  slavery  and  find  new  issues. 

634.  What  slim  chance  there  was  that  the  North  might 
quiet  down  under  the  iniquity  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was 
finally  dissipated  by  another  audacious  measure  in  the  interests 
of  slavery.  The  vast  region  from  Missouri  and  Iowa  to  the 
Rockies  was  known  as  the  Platte  country.  Immigrants  to 
California  were  pouring  across  it ;  and  at  the  assembling  of 
Congress  in  December,  1853,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois, 
chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Territories,  strove  to  se 
cure  a  Territorial  organization  for  the  region.  But  his  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  proposed  that  two  new  Territories  there  should 
be  placed  on  the  squatter-sovereignty  basis  as  to  slavery. 

Douglas  and  President  Pierce  put  forward  the  surprising 
claim  that  the  Compromise  of  1850  implied  this  form  of 
organization  for  all  Territories  thereafter  formed.  But  this 


634J 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA  BILL 


531 


532      SLAVERY  COMPROMISE  BREAKS  DOWN       [§  635 

district  was  part  of  the  Old  Louisiana  Purchase,  solemnly 
guaranteed  to  freedom  by  the  Compromise  of  1820.  The  Com 
promise  of  1850  had  applied  only  to  territory  just  acquired  from 
Mexico :  no  one  had  dreamed  then  that  it  was  to  repeal  the 
Missouri  Compromise  for  old  territory.  The  Southern  con 
gressmen  had  not  asked  such  a  thing ;  but  now,  after  a  gasp 
of  astonishment,  they  seized  their  chance. 

Most  Northerners  looked  upon  the  move  as  a  wanton  viola 
tion  of  a  sacred  pledge  ;  but  the  bill  carried  by  a  close  vote, — 
in  the  House,  113  to  100.  Douglas  tried  to  make  the  bill  a 
party  measure  ;  but  it  ended  as  a  sectional  measure.  Half  the 
Northern  Democrats  voted  against  it  —  though  all  the  Presi 
dent's  power  of  patronage  (§  572)  was  used  to  whip  them  into 
line  —  and  the  other  half,  almost  to  a  man,  lost  their  seats  at  the 
next  election.  All  Southern  congressmen  but  nine,  Whigs  or 
Democrats,  voted  for  it. 

635.  Now  the  struggle  for  "  Bleeding  Kansas  "  was  transferred 
to  the  country  at  large.  From  Missouri  thousands  of  armed 
slave-owners  poured  across  the  line  to  preempt  land  —  which, 
however,  few  of  them  made  any  pretense  of  really  settling. 
From  the  North,  especially  from  distant  New  England,  came 
thousands  of  true  settlers,  financed  often  by  the  "  Emigrant 
Aid  Society,"  and  armed  with  the  new  breech-loading  Sharpe's 
rifle,  to  save  Kansas  for  freedom.  In  like  fashion,  far-off 
Georgia  sent  her  contingent  of  the  "  Sons  of  the  South  "  re 
ligiously  dedicated  to  the  cause  of  slavery.  But  once  more 
slavery  proved  its  weakness.  In  spite  of  the  neighborhood  of 
slave  territory,  it  was  not  easy  to  move  slave  plantations  to 
a  new  State,  especially  to  one  not  particularly  adapted  to 
slave  labor ;  and  the  free-State  settlers  soon  predominated  in 
numbers. 

The  first  Territorial  legislature  was  carried  by  "Border 
Ruffians "  from  across  the  Missouri  line.  A  preliminary 
"  census "  had  shown  only  2905  voters  in  the  Territory.  On 
the  evening  before  the  election  day,  "  an  unkempt,  sun-dried, 
blatant,  picturesque  mob  of  five  thousand  Missourians,  with 


§  636]  "  BLEEDING  KANSAS  "  533 

guiis  on  their  shoulders,  revolvers  stuffing  their  belts,  bowie- 
knives  protruding  from  their  boot-tops,  and  generous  rations 
of  whisky  in  their  wagons,"  drove  inadly  across  the  border, 
seized  all  but  one  of  the  polling  places,  and  swamped  the  "  free- 
State  "  vote.  The  proslavery  legislature,  so  elected,  unseated 
the  few  "  free-State  "  members,  and  passed  stringent  laws  to 
protect  slavery.  The  free-State  settlers  tried  to  disregard  this 
fraudulent  government  (January,  1856),  and  it  was  denounced 
also  by  the  honest  and  fearless  governor,  Andrew  H.  Reeder, 
who  had  been  appointed  as  a  strong  proslavery  man.  But 
President  Pierce  removed  Reeder  and  supported  the  proslavery 
legislature  with  United  States  troops.  Actual  war  followed  in 
Kansas  between  rival  proslavery  and  free-State  "govern 
ments,"  and  bloody  murders  were  committed  both  by  raiders 
from  Missouri  and  by  free-State  fanatics  like  John  Brown.1 

636.  In  the  debate  on  the  Nebraska  bill,  Sumner  had  declared 
that  it  "  annuls  all  past  compromises,  and  makes  future  com 
promises  impossible.  It  puts  freedom  and  slavery  face  to  face, 
and  bids  them  grapple"  And  said  Emerson :  "  The  Fugitive  law 
did  much  to  unglue  the  eyes  ;  and  now  the  Nebraska  bill  leaves  us 
staring." 

That  rash  measure  had  coalized  the  discordant  antislavery 
elements  throughout  the  country  into  one  political  party.  "  Anti- 
Nebraska  men  "  (Free  Soilers,  Northern  Whigs,  Northern  Demo 
crats  opposed  to  Douglas'  measure)  drew  together  under  the  name 
Republican.  This  party  took  from  the  Free  Soilers  the  program 
of  prohibiting  slavery  in  all  "  Territories."  It  adopted  from 
the  Whigs,  who  rallied  to  it  in  large  numbers,  their  broad-con 
struction  views.  And  it  recognized  its  Democratic  element  by 
nominating  as  its  first  candidate  for  President  a  young  officer 
belonging  to  that  party,  John  C.  Fremont.  The  name  Re- 

1  Brown  was  quite  ready  to  take  life,  or  to  give  his  own,  in  fighting  "  the 
sum  of  all  villanies,"  but  he  must  not  be  confounded  with  "ordinary 
criminals."  His  killings  represented  a  blind  revolt  of  the  moral  sense 
against  an  unrighteous  system.  They  were  somewhat  similar  to  the  crimes 
by  maddened  enthusiasts  in  the  cause  of  social  reform. 


534 


THE   KANSAS-NEBRASKA  BILL 


[§  636 


§  637]  AND  THE   REPUBLICAN  PARTY  535 

publican  was  designed  to  indicate  the  purpose  of  going  back  to 
the  true  democracy  of  Jefferson's  original  "  Republican  "  party. 

The  first  Republican  National  Convention  (1856)  contained 
representatives  from  all  the  free  States  and  from  Maryland, 
Delaware,  and  Kentucky.  The  platform  asserted  that  under 
the  Constitution  neither  Congress  nor  any  Territorial  legisla 
ture  had  authority  to  establish  slavery  in  a  Territory,  urged  a 
railway  across  the  continent,  and  pledged  liberal  aid  to  com 
merce  by  river  and  harbor  improvement.  Despite  the  sweep 
ing  statement  regarding  slavery  in  the  Territories,  the  party, 
down  to  the  War,  affirmed  steadfastly  that  Congress  had  no 
right  to  interfere  with  the  institution  in  the  States;  and  its 
leaders  reviled  Abolitionists  almost  as  violently  as  the  South 
erners  did. 

In  the  election,  Fremont  carried  all  the  Northern  States  but 
four.  The  Know-nothings  carried  Maryland.  The  Democrats 
elected  their  candidate,  James  Buchanan,  by  174  electoral  votes  to 
114.  The  Republicans,  however,  in  this  first  contest,  mustered 
1,300,000  votes,  to  1,800,000  for  the  Democrats. 

637.  And  then  (March,  1857)  came  the  Dred  Scott  decision, 
in  which  the  Supreme  Court  declared  that  both  North  and  South 
were  trying  to  stand  upon  unconstitutional  ground  —  with  a 
difference.  Dred  Scott  was  the  slave  of  an  army  officer.  In 
1834  his  owner  had  taken  him  to  an  army  post  in  Illinois,  and, 
later,  to  one  in  what  is  now  Minnesota;  and  then  back  to 
Missouri.  Slavery  could  not  legally  exist  in  Illinois,  because 
of  the  Northwest  Ordinance,  or  in  Minnesota,  because  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise ;  and,  some  years  later,  Scott  sued  for 
his  freedom  on  the  ground  that  he  became  free  legally  when 
he  resided  in  that  free  territory. 

The  case  finally  reached  the  Supreme  Court.  That  august 
body  held  that  Scott  was  still  a  slave  and  had  no  standing  in 
court ; 1  and  two  thirds  of  the  Court 2  concurred  in  the  further 
and  uncalled-for  opinion  of  the  Chief  Justice  (Roger  B.  Taney) 

1  Scott  was  at  once  freed  by  his  owner. 

2  Justices  Curtis  and  McLean  presented  powerful  dissenting  opinions. 


536  THE  DRED  SCOTT  DECISION  [§  638 

that  neither  Congress  nor  Territorial  legislature  could  legally  for 
bid  slavery  in  a  Territory.  The  Constitution,  said  the  Court, 
sanctioned  property  in  slaves,  and  every  citizen  of  the  Union 
must  have  his  property  protected  in  any  part  of  the  common 
national  domain.  Only  a  State  could  abolish  slavery. 

This  was  a  sweeping  adoption  of  Calhoun's  contention,  and 
the  precise  reverse  of  Republican  doctrine.  According  to  this 
dictum,  the  restriction  upon  slavery  in  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  had  always  been  void  in  law,  even  before  repealed  by 
the  Nebraska  Act.  Quite  as  clearly,  the  opinion  denied  the 
"  popular  sovereignty  "  idea.  But  in  exchange  for  this  ground 
which  it  was  told  to  surrender,  the  South  was  offered  still 
more  advanced  and  impregnable  proslavery  ground  ;  while  the 
Republican  party  was  branded  as  seeking  an  end  wholly  un 
constitutional  and  illegitimate  by  any  means.  It  must  sur 
render,  or  defy  the  Court — "that  part  of  our  government  on 
which  all  the  rest  hinges." 

638.  Without  hesitation,  the  Republican  leaders  defied  the 
Court.  Said  Seward  in  the  Senate :  "  The  Supreme  Court 
attempts  to  command  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  accept 
the  principle  that  one  man  can  own  other  men ;  and  that  they 
must  guarantee  the  inviolability  of  that  false  and  pernicious 
property.  The  people  .  .  .  never  can,  and  they  never  will, 
accept  principles  so  unconstitutional  and  abhorrent.  ...  We 
shall  reorganize  the  Court,  and  thus  reform  its  political  senti 
ments  and  practices,  and  bring  them  into  harmony  with  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  of  nature."  Lincoln,  in  public  debate, 
even  accused  the  Court  of  entering  into  a  plot  with  Pierce, 
Douglas,  and  Buchanan.  Other  Northerners  foresaw  Civil 
War.  James  Russell  Lowell,  on  hearing  of  the  Court's  deci 
sion,  wrote  to  Charles  Eliot  Norton,  in  Italy  :  "  I  think  it  will 
do  good.  It  makes  slavery  national,  as  far  as  the  Supreme 
Court  can.  So  now  the  lists  are  open,  and  we  shall  soon  see 
where  the  stouter  lance  shafts  are  grown.  North  or  South" 
More  temperately,  but  quite  as  decidedly,  the  influential 
Springfield  Republican  said :  "  In  this  country,  the  court  of  last 


§  640]  AND    THE   REPUBLICAN  PARTY  537 

resort  is  the  people.  They  will  discuss  and  review  the  action 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and,  if  it  presents  itself  as  a  practical 
issue,  they  will  vote  against  it" 

639.  The  congressional  elections  of  the  next  year  showed 
great  Republican  gains.     The  campaign  was  made  famous  by 
a  series  of  joint  debates  in  Illinois  between  Douglas  (the  "  Little 
Giant ")  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  candidates  for  the  Senate. 

Lincoln  was  defeated,  but  he  attained  his  deliberate  purpose. 
His  acute  and  persistent  questions  forced  Douglas  to  choose 
between  the  new  doctrine  of  the  Supreme  Court  —  to  which 
the  South  now  clung  vociferously  —  and  his  own  old  doctrine 
of  squatter  sovereignty  —  which  was  certainly  as  far  as  Illinois 
would  go.  If  he  placed  himself  in  opposition  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  he  would  not  be  able  to  secure  Southern  support  for  the 
presidency  at  the  next  election,  to  which  men's  eyes  were 
already  turned.  If  he  did  not  oppose  the  Court,  he  would  lose 
the  Senatorship  and  Northern  support  for  the  presidency.  In 
any  case,  the  Slavery  party  would  be  robbed  of  its  most  for 
midable  candidate  in  1860.  Douglas  was  driven  to  maintain 
that,  despite  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  a  Territorial  legislature 
could  keep  out  slavery  by  "  unfriendly  legislation."  This 
doctrine  was  at  once  denounced  bitterly  by  the  South.1 

Even  more  significant  was  the  moral  stand  taken  by  Lincoln.  The 
real  issue,  he  declared,  was  the  right  or  wrong  of  slavery,  —  not  any 
constitutional  theory.  "  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these  two 
principles  —  right  and  wrong  —  throughout  the  world.  They  are  the  two 
principles  which  have  stood  face  to  face  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and 
which  will  ever  continue  to  struggle.  The  one  is  the  common  right  of 
humanity:  the  other  is  the  divine  right  of  kings."  Slavery,  he  affirmed, 
"is  the  spirit  that  says,  'You  work  and  toil  and  earn  bread,  and  I'll  eat 
it.'  No  matter  in  what  shape  it  comes,  it  is  the  same  tyrannical 
principle." 

640.  In  1857  the  free-State  men  won  the  Kansas  elections  so 
overwhelmingly   that   the    proslavery    organization   could   no 
longer  expect  open  support  from  Washington.     The  expiring 

1  A  graphic  picture  of  Lincoln's  famous  Freeport  debate  is  given  in 
Churchill's  novel  The  Crisis. 


538  THE  SLAVE   POWER  [§  64J 

proslavery  legislature,  however,  still  provided  for  a  proslavery 
convention,  which  met  at  Lecompton  (November,  1857).  Pres 
ident  Buchanan  had  purchased  for  that  body  the  privilege 
of  meeting  in  peace  by  promising  that  its  work  should  be  sub 
mitted  to  popular  vote.  This  pledge  was  not  kept.  The  con 
vention  arranged  a  "  constitution  with  slavery  "  and  a  "  consti 
tution  with  no  slavery,"  which  last,  however,  left  in  bondage  the 
slaves  then  in  the  Territory,  and  forbade  the  residence  of  free 
Negroes.  At  the  promised  election,  the  voters  were  permitted 
merely  to  choose  between  these  two  constitutions :  they  were  given 
no  opportunity  to  reject  both. 

The  free-State  men  kept  away  from  the  polls ;  and  the  "  con 
stitution  with  slavery  "  carried  overwhelmingly,  six  thousand 
to  less  than  six  hundred.  But  the  new  free-State  legislature 
provided  for  a  new  and  proper  expression  of  opinion.  This 
time  the  proslavery  men  abstained  from  voting ;  and  the  two 
constitutions  together  received  less  than  two  hundred  votes,  to 
more  than  ten  thousand  against  both  of  them.  Still,  the  South 
and  the  Administration  at  Washington  strove  violently  to 
secure  the  admission  of  the  State  with  the  "  Lecompton  con 
stitution,"  claiming  the  first  election  as  valid. 

This  nefarious  attempt  to  rob  the  people  of  their  will  was 
defeated  by  the  warm  opposition  of  Douglas,  who  remained  true 
to  his  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty.  The  Slave  Power 
succeeded,  however,  in  getting  Congress  to  submit  the  Le 
compton  constitution  for  the  third  time  to  the  people  of  Kansas, 
with  a  dazzling  bribe  of  public  lands  if  they  would  accept  it. 
Kansas  refused  the  bribe,  11,000  to  2000.  Even  then  the  Dem 
ocratic  Senate  would  not  admit  the  State  with  its  "  free  "  con 
stitution,  and  Kansas  statehood  had  to  wait  till  1861.  Meantime, 
two  other  free  States  came  in,  to  establish  Northern  supremacy 
in  the  Senate,  —  Minnesota  (1858)  and  Oregon  (1859). 

641.  In  one  other  vital  matter  at  this  same  time  the  Slave 
Power  offended  the  moral  sense  and  threatened  the  material  interest 
of  "  free "  labor.  As  early  as  1845,  Andrew  Johnson  of  Ten 
nessee  (§  547)  introduced  in  Congress  the  first  " Homestead  bill" 


§  642]  OFFENDS  FREE   LABOR  539 

—  to  give  every  homeless  citizen  a  farm  from  the  public  lands. 
Several  times  such  bills  passed,  the  House.  But  larger  free 
immigration  into  the  public  domain  would  end  all  chance  to  set 
up  slavery  there  ;  and  the  Slave  Power,  formerly  favorable  to  a 
liberal  land  policy,  now  defeated  all  these  bills  in  the  Senate. 
This  new  attitude  of  the  Slave  Power  helped  to  make  the 
masses  of  the  North  see  the  fundamental  opposition  between 
free  and  slave  labor. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  antislavery  parties  appealed  to  North 
ern  workingmen  by  their  position  on  this  matter.  The  Free 
Soilers  declared  in  their  platform  of  1852,  in  full  accord  with 
the  labor  parties  of  twenty  years  before  :  — 

"  The  public  land  of  the  United  States  belongs  to  the  people,  and  should 
not  be  sold  to  individuals  or  granted  to  corporations,  but  should  be  held 
as  a  sacred  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  should  be  granted  in 
limited  quantities,  free  of  cost,  to  landless  settlers." 

In  June  of  1860  the  House  again  passed  a  Homestead  bill 
giving  any  head  of  a  family  a  quarter  section  after  five  years' 
residence  thereon.  The  Republican  platform  of  the  same  year 
"  demanded"  the  passing  by  the  Senate  of  that  "  complete  and 
satisfactory  measure,"  protesting  also  "against  any  view  of  the 
free  homestead  policy  which  regards  the  settlers  as  paupers 
or  suppliants  for  public  bounty."  This  time  the  Senate  did 
pass  the  bill,  but  Buchanan  vetoed  it. 

"The  honest  poor  man,"  argued  the  President  with  gracious  rhetoric, 
"  by  frugality  and  industry  can  in  any  part  of  our  country  acquire  a  com 
petency.  .  .  .  He  desires  no  charity.  .  .  .  This  bill  will  go  far  to 
demoralize  the  people  and  repress  this  noble  spirit  of  independence.  It 
may  introduce  among  us  those  pernicious  social  theories  which  have 
proved  so  disastrous  in  other  countries." 

When  the  Slave  Power  withdrew  from  Congress,  a  Home 
stead  bill  at  last  became  law  —  in  May,  1862. 

642.  Two  other  events  must  be  noticed,  before  we  take  up 
the  fateful  election  of  1860. 

a.  In  1859  John  Brown  (§  635)  tried  to  arouse  a  slave  insurrec 
tion  in  Virginia.  He  seems  hardly  to  have  comprehended  the 


540  THE  SLAVERY  STRUGGLE  [§  642 

hideous  results  that  would  have  followed  a  successful  attempt 
He  planned  to  establish  a  camp  in  the  mountains  to  which 
Negro  fugitives  might  rally  ;  and  his  little  force  of  twenty-two 
men  seized  the  arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry,  to  get  arms  for 
slave  recruits.  The  neighboring  slaves  did  not  rise,  as  he  had 
hoped  they  would,  and  he  was  captured  after  a  gallant  defense. 
Virginia  gave  him  a  fair  trial ;  and  he  was  convicted  of  murder 
and  of  treason  against  that  commonwealth.  His  death  made 
him  more  formidable  to  slavery  than  ever  he  had  been  living. 
The  North  in  general  condemned  his  action ;  but  its  condem 
nation  was  tempered  by  a  note  of  sympathy  and  admiration 
ominous  to  Southern  ears.  Emerson  declared  that  Brown's 
execution  made  "  the  scaffold  glorious  —  like  the  Cross." 

b.  In  1852  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  had  written  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin,  one  of  the  greatest  moral  forces  ever  contained 
between  book  covers.  The  volume  undoubtedly  misrepre 
sented  slavery,  —  as  though  exceptional  incidents  had  been 
the  rule ;  but  it  did  its  great  work  in  making  the  people  of 
the  North  realize  that  the  slave  was  a  fellow  man  for  whom 
any  slavery  was  hateful.  The  tremendous  influence  of  the 
book,  however,  was  not  really  felt  for  some  years.  The  boys 
of  fourteen  who  read  it  in  1852  were  just  ready  to  give  their 
vote  to  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1860.  This  explains,  too,  in  part, 
why  the  college  youth  who  had  been  generally  proslavery  in 
1850  left  college  halls  vacant  in  1861-1865  to  join  the  North 
ern  armies. 

EXERCISE.  — a.  Topical  reviews  :  (1)  territorial  expansion  ;  (2)  popu 
lation,  immigration,  distribution,  etc.;  (3)  attempts  to  restrict  slavery  in 
the  territories ;  (4)  tariff  legislation,  to  the  War. 

b.  Prepare  a  table  of  admission  of  States  for  reference. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  The  stirring  story  of  the  Compromise  of 
1850  and  of  the  struggle  for  Kansas  should  be  read  in  larger  histories.  It 
is  told  brilliantly,  and  quite  briefly,  in  MacDonald's  From  Jefferson  to 
Lincoln,  124-207.  There  are  many  readable  and  valuable  biographies 
for  the  period :  among  them,  Hart's  Chase,  Morse's  Lincoln,  Meigs' 
Benton,  Davis'  Jefferson  Davis,  and  the  admirable  sketches  in  Trent's 
Southern  Statesmen,  besides  those  mentioned  in  previous  lists. 


RAILROAD  CONSTRUCTION 
From  1830  to  1860 


CHAPTER   LVI 

ON  THE  EVE  OF  THE  FINAL  STRUGGLE 
I.     AMERICA  IN  1860 

643.  WE  have  treated  the  period  1845-1860  only  in  regard 
to  the  slavery  question.  To  most  men  of  the  time,  however, 
these  years  had  a  more  engrossing  aspect.  The  era  was  one  of 
wonderful  material  prosperity.  Wealth  increased  fourfold, — 
for  the  first  time  in  our  history  faster  than  population.  Men 
were  absorbed  in  a  mad  race  to  seize  the  new  opportunities. 
They  had  to  stop,  in  some  degree,  for  the  slavery  discussion ; 
but  the  majority  looked  upon  that  as  an  annoying  interruption 
to  the  real  business  of  life. 

Between  1850  and  1857,  railway  mileage,  multiplied  enor 
mously  ;  and  in  the  North  the  map  took  on  its  modern  gridiron 
look.  Lines  reached  the  Mississippi  at  ten  points ;  and  some 
projected  themselves  into  the  unsettled  plains  beyond.  With 
the  railway,  or  ahead  of  it,  spread  the  telegraph.  Mail  routes, 
too,  took  advantage  of  rail  transportation ;  and  in  1850 
postage  was  lowered  from  5  cents  for  300  miles  to  3  cents  for 
3000  miles.  With  cheap  and  swift  transportation  and  com 
munication,  the  era  of  commercial  combinations  began,  and 
great  fortunes  piled  up  beyond  all  previous  dreams.  The  new 
money  kings,  railway  barons,  and  merchant  princes  of  the 
North,  it  was  noted,  joined  hands  with  the  great  planters  of 
the  South  in  trying  to  stifle  opposition  to  slavery  —  because 
all  such  agitation  "  hurt  business." 

For  labor,  too,  the  period  was  a  golden  age.  Between  1840 
and  1860,  wages  rose  twenty  per  cent,  and  prices  only  two  per 
cent.  Pauperism  was  unobtrusive,  and,  to  foreign  observers, 
amazingly  rare.  Inventions  had  multiplied  comforts  and 

641 


542  AMERICA  IN   1860  [§  644 

luxuries.  Pianos  from  Germany  were  seen  in  Western 
villages,  and  French  silks  sometimes  found  their  way  to  the 
counter  of  a  cross-roads  store.  Western  farmers  moved  from 
their  old  log  cabins  into  two-story  frame  houses,  painted  white, 
with  green  blinds.  That  same  rather  bare  sort  of  building 
was  the  common  "  town  "  house  also  in  the  West  —  varied, 
however,  by  an  occasional  more  pretentious  and  often  more 
ugly  "  mansion  "  of  brick  or  stone. 

New  England  and  New  York  had  learned  the  lesson  of  con 
servative  banking ;  but  in  the  West  most  banks  were  still 
managed  recklessly.  In  1857,  accordingly,  came  another 
"panic,"  due,  like  that  of  1837,  to  speculation,  wild  inflation 
of  credit,  and  premature  investment  of  borrowed  capital  in 
enterprises  that  could  give  no  immediate  return.  This  time, 
however,  the  country  recovered  quickly  from  the  disorder. 

644.  The  twenty  years  preceding  the  Civil  War  saw  an  indus 
trial  transformation  due  to  the  development  of  farm  machinery. 
One  farm  laborer  in  1860  could  produce  more  than  three  in 
1840.1  Until  1850,  the  dominant  agricultural  interest  of  the  United 
States  had  been  the  cotton  and  tobacco  of  the  South.  After 
that  date,  it  became  the  grain  of  the  Northwest.  For  that  section, 
McCormick's  reaper  worked  a  revolution  akin  to  that  worked 
for  the  South  a  half-century  earlier  by  W^hitney's  cotton  gin. 

Until  1850,  too,  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  West,  —  Wis 
consin,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  southern  Illinois,  —  had 
remained  tributary  commercially  to  New  Orleans,  by  the  river. 
Now  this  Northwest  suddenly  changed  front.  Farm  machinery 
and  the  railway  made  it  possible  for  it  to  feed  the  growing 
Eastern  cities  and  even  to  export  the  surplus  to  Europe  from 
Eastern  ports. 

This  change  in  trade  routes  ivas  more  than  economic.  It  com 
pleted  the  break  in  the  old  political  alliance  of  South  and 
West  —  already  begun  by  the  moral  awakening  on  slavery  — 
and  foreshadowed  a  new  political  alliance  of  East  and  West. 

»  Cf.  cuts  on  pages  472,  473. 


§645] 


GROWTH  AND  PROSPERITY 


543 


The  merit  of  the  Compromise  of  1850  in  our  history  is  that  it 
put  off  the  war  until  this  alliance  was  cemented  and  the 
Northwest  was,  body  and  soul,  on  the  side  of  the  Union. 

In  yet  another  way  the  improved  reapers  and  threshers  may 
be  said  to  have  won  the  Civil  War.  Without  such  machinery, 
Northern  grain  fields  could  never  have  spared  the  men  who 
marched  with  Grant  and  Sherman.  As  it  was,  with  half  its 
men  under  arms,  the  Northwest  increased  its  farm  output. 


^*j         Wheat  Areas 
in  1860 


0  50  100  200 
Each  dot  represents 
50,000  bushels  and 

ahows  the  county 


With  permission,  from  Dodd's  Expansion  and  Conflict  ("  Kiverside  History 
of  the  United  States  "),  published  by  the  Houghton  Mifflin  Company. 

645.  The  acquisition  of  California  had  been  followed  by  a 
swift  expansion  of  trade  with  Asia.  Hawaii  had  been  brought 
under  American  influence  previously  by  American  missionaries 
and  traders  ;  and  in  1844  China  was  persuaded  to  open  up  five 
"treaty  ports  "  to  American  trade.  Japan  continued  to  exclude 
foreigners  until  1854,  when  Commodore  Perry,  in  pursuance  of 
orders  from  Washington,  entered  Japanese  ports  with  his 
fleet  of  warships  and  secured  a  commercial  treaty. 

After  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  (and  with  the  open 
ing  of  these  prospects  of  Oriental  trade)  the  question  of  trans 
portation  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  arose.  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  each  tried  to  secure  routes  for  a  canal 


544  AMERICA  IN   1860  [§  646 

from  ocean  to  ocean  ;  but  in  1850  the  Clayton-Buliver  treaty  agreed 
that  any  canal  across  those  narrow  lands  should  be  neutral,  and 
subject  to  common  control  by  the  two  countries.  In  1855  a  rail 
way  was  opened  across  the  Isthmus. 

The  ambitious  project  of  an  American  railway  from  the  Mis 
sissippi  to  the  Pacific  was  agitated  constantly  after  1850  ;  and  in 
1861,  encouraged  by  prospects  of  a  government  subsidy,  the 
Western  Union  carried  a  telegraph  line  across  the  mountains  to 
San  Francisco.  '  Travel  from  St.  Louis  to  San  Francisco,  by 
relays  of  armed  stage  coaches,  took  four  weeks  ;  but  mail  was 
carried  in  ten  days  by  the  daring  riders  of  the  "  Pony  Express." 

646.  Population  had  continued  to  increase  at  about  the  old 
rate  of  100  per  cent  in  twenty-live  years,  besides  the  added 
volume  of  immigration  in  the  fifties.  Between  1850  and  1860 
our  numbers  had  risen  from  twenty-three  million  to  thirty-one 
and  a  half ;  and  the  cities  (eight  thousand  people  and  upwards) 
counted  now  158.  This  was  four  times  as  many  as  twenty 
years  earlier ;  and  the  cities  now  contained  one  man  in  every 
six  of  the  entire  population,  instead  of  one  in  twelve,  as  in 
1840,  or  one  in  twenty,  as  in  1800.  The  westward  movement  of 
population,  too,  continued  unabated. 

The  map  (page  358)  makes  that  movement  appear  even  greater  than  in 
earlier  decades  ;  but  the  westward  leap  of  the  "  center  of  population  "  be 
tween  1850  and  1860  is  deceptive.  Before  1850,  the  position  of  that  point 
had  been  a  roughly  correct  indication,  because,  on  the  whole,  except  for  a 
temporary  gap  at  the  Appalachians  (§  180),  settlement  had  been  fairly 
contiguous.  But  between  1849  and  1860  half  a  million  people  had  crossed 
to  the  Pacific  Coast,  leaving  more  than  half  the  continent  unsettled  be 
hind  them,  —  so  that  in  determining  this  artificial  "  center  of  gravity," 
three  men  at  San  Francisco  had  as  much  weight  as  ten  in  New  York.  But 
cf.  map  opposite  with  those  on  pages  269  and  418.) 

The  cities  of  1860  were  still  large  towns  gone  to  seed  from  rapid  growth. 
They  were  unplanned,  ugly,  filthy,  poorly  policed  ;  and  the  larger  ones 
were  run  by  corrupt  "  rings"  of  politicians,  who  maintained  their  power 
by  unblushing  fraud.  New  York  introduced  a  uniformed  and  disciplined 
"Metropolitan  police"  just  before  the  War;  and  the  invention  of  the 
steam  fire  engine,  in  1853,  promised  somewhat  better  protection  against 
the  common  devastating  fires.  (Cf.  §  432.) 


647] 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH 


545 


The  foreign-born  inhabitants  now  numbered  nearly  one  in  eight  of  the 
total  population.  They  were  massed  almost  wholly  in  the  North,  making 
more  than  half  the  people  of  some  States. 

647.  The  North  contained  nineteen  million  of  the  thirty-one 
and  a  half  million  people  of  the  Union,  a  ratio  of  19  to  12  ;  and 
of  the  twelve  and  a  half  million  in  the  South,  four  million  were 
slaves.  Moreover,  when  the  war  line  was  finally  drawn,  four 


RITISH         .POSSESSIONS 


DISTRIBUTION  OF 

POPULATION 

IN  1860 


Cnder  2  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile 
'A  From  2  to  18      "       "    "        "         " 
"     18  to  90     «       "    "        "         " 
90  and  over        «       "   "        " 


546  AMERICA  IN   1860  [§  648 

slave-holding  States  (Maryland,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri)  remained  with  the  North.  These  States  contained  a 
fourth  of  the  "  Southern  "  population ;  and  the  recruits  which 
these  divided  districts  sent  to  the  South  were  about  offset  by 
recruits  to  the  North  from  "  West "  Virginia  and  Eastern  Ten 
nessee.  Thus,  for  totals,  secession  was  to  be  supported  by  less 
than  five  and  a  half  million  Whites  (with  three  and  a  half 
million  slaves)  against  more  than  twenty-two  million  for  the 
Union.  The  area  of  Secession  contained  one  White  man  of 
military  age  to  four  in  the  North.  The  North  had  three 
fourths  the  railway  mileage  and  six  sevenths  of  the  cities  of 
the  Union. 

648.  The  South  too  was  less  able  to  feed  and  clothe  armies.  She 
furnished  seven  eighths  of  the  world's  raw  cotton ;  but  she 
did  not  raise  her  own  full  supply  of  food,  and  manufactures  and 
mechanical  skill  were  almost  totally  lacking.  Minerals  and  water- 
power  were  abundant,  but  unused.  Said  a  Charleston  paper  to 
its  people :  "  Whence  come  your  axes,  hoes,  scythes  ?  Yes, 
even  your  plows,  harrows,  rakes,  ax  and  auger  handles  ?  Your 
furniture,  carpets,  calicoes,  and  muslins  ?  The  cradle  that 
rocks  your  infant,  the  top  your  boy  spins,  the  doll  your  girl 
caresses,  the  clothes  your  children  wear,  the  books  from  which 
they  are  educated  ...  all  are  imported  into  South  Carolina.'7 
"  The  North,"  says  Rhodes,  "  combined  the  resources  of  farm, 
shop,  and  factory ;  the  South  was  but  a  farm  "  —  and  a  farm 
which  received  from  outside  much  of  its  bread  and  meat. 

Even  so,  only  half  as  much  of  the  land  was  cultivated  South 
as  North.  The  value  of  Southern  farm  land,  too,  was  less 
than  that  of  similar  land  in  the  North,  while  the  value  of  farm 
machinery  to  each  cultivated  acre  was  not  half  that  in  the 
North.  Slaves  could  not  be  trusted  with  machinery. 

The  difference  was  due  not  to  climate,  but  to  labor.  It  showed  in 
stantly  upon  crossing  a  State  line.  In  1796  George  Washington  noted 
the  higher  prices  of  land  in  Pennsylvania  than  in  Maryland  "though  not 
of  superior  quality"  ;  and  added  his  opinion,  on  that  ground,  that  Vir 
ginia  must  follow  Pennsylvania's  example  of  emancipation  "  at  a  period 


§  650J  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  547 

not  far  remote."  Tocqueville  (p.  282)  noted  the  contrast  between  the  north 
and  south  banks  of  the  Ohio  :  thinly  scattered  population,  with  occasional 
gangs  of  indolent  slaves  in  the  few,  "  half  -desert "  fields,  as  over  against 
' '  the  busy  hum  of  industry  .  .  .  fields  rich  with  harvest  .  .  .  comfortable 
homes  .  .  .  prosperity  on  all  sides."  In  1859  Frederick  Law  Olmsted 
made  a  journey  through  the  Southern  States  ;  and  his  acute  observations 
(summed  up  in  his  Cotton  Kingdom}  proved  that  the  industrial  retarda 
tion  of  the  South  had  been  steadily  increasing  up  to  the  final  catastrophe. 

649.  In  other  respects,  also,  slavery  was  avenged  upon  the 
masters.     The   poorer  Whites  were   degraded  by  it,  and  the 
slave-owning   class  were   unduly   passionate,   imperious,   and 
willful. 

The  9,000,000  Whites  of  the  slaveholding  States  composed 
some  1,800,000  families.  One  fifth  of  these  owned  slaves  ;  but 
only  eight  or  ten  thousand  families  owned  more  than  fifty 
apiece.  This  small  aristocracy  had  a  peculiar  charm  —  if  only 
the  ugly  substructure  could  be  forgotten.  The  men  were  lei 
sured  and  cultivated,  with  a  natural  gift  for  leadership  and  a 
high  sense  of  public  duty.  They  were  courageous,  honorable, 
generous,  with  easy  bearing  and  a  chivalrous  courtesy.  Visitors 
from  the  Old  World  complained  that  Northern  men  were  ab 
sorbed  in  business  cares,  and  lacking  in  ease  of  manner ;  but 
they  were  always  charmed  by  the  aristocratic  manners  and 
cultivated  taste  of  the  gentry  of  the  South. 

It  must  be  added,  however,  not  only  that  the  great  body  of 
small  slaveowners  were  destitute  of  this  charm,  but  that  they 
were  often  uneducated.  The  South  produced  little  literature 
(except  political  speeches)  and  little  art ;  and  it  had  almost  no 
schools.  On  the  other  hand,  Southern  politics  had  absolutely 
no  taint  of  that  corruption  which  had  appeared  in  the  North. 

650.  Man  for  man,  in  marching  and  fighting,  the  Southerner 
was  far  more  than  a  match  for  the  man  of  the  North,  —  especially 
for  the  man  of  the  Eastern  cities.     Southern  outdoor  life  and 
familiarity  with  firearms  counted  for  much  in  the  early  cam 
paigns  of  the  war.     The  North  had  been  sadly  deficient  in 
athletics  and  in  wholesome  living,  and  was  at  its  lowest  ebb  in 


548  THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1860  [§  651 

physical  condition.1  The  agricultural  population  of  the  West, 
however,  resembled  the  South  in  physical  characteristics  ;  and 
the  men  of  the  North,  city  or  country,  had  a  mechanical  ability, 
useful  in  repairing  or  -building  bridges  or  engines,  which  was 
lacking  in  the  armies  of  the  South. 

II.     THE   LAST  POLITICAL   STRUGGLE  FOR   SUPREMACY 

651.  In  April,  1860,  the  Democratic  National  Convention  met 
at  Charleston,  amid  tense  excitement  over  the  whole  country. 
Douglas  men  had  a  majority,  but  not  the  necessary  two  thirds. 
The  Southern  extremists  insisted  on  a  platform  affirming  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  defend  slavery  in  all  Territories  and  con 
demning  Douglas'  doctrine  of  possible  "unfriendly  legisla 
tion  "  as  unconstitutional.  The  Douglas  men  voted  this  down. 
Then  the  Southern  delegates  withdrew.  After  ten  days  of 
fruitless  negotiation  with  that  seceding  faction,  the  Convention 
adjourned,  to  meet  at  Baltimore  in  June.  There  the  Moderates 
nominated  Douglas.  The  seceders  then  placed  in  nomination 
John  (7,  BrecJcenridge  of  Kentucky  upon  their  extreme  platform. 

Meantime,  conservative  representatives  of  the  old  Whig  and 
Know-nothing  parties  organized  as  the  Constitutional  Union 
party;  and  their  Convention  (May  9)  nominated  John  Bell  of 
Tennessee,  announcing  the  compromise  platform,  "  No  consti 
tutional  principles  except  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  the 
Union  of  the  States,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws."  This 
party  received  support  from  the  great  moneyed  interests  of  the 
North  and  from  many  of  the  large  planters  of  the  South. 

A  week  later,  the  Republican  Convention  met  at  Chicago  in 
a  vast  ^  wigwam,"  amid  wild  enthusiasm  from  thousands  of 
spectators.  At  first  Seward  was*  the  leading  candidate ;  but 
he  had  many  personal  enemies,  and  the  third  ballot  nominated 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

Most  New  England  Eepublicans  were  deeply  grieved.  They 
believed  that,  in  passing  by  Seward,  principle  had  been  sacri- 

1  Emerson  ate  "pie"  for  breakfast  regularly  ! 


§  652]  "  A  HOUSE   DIVIDED  "  549 

ficed  to  a  mistaken  idea  of  expediency  ;  and  they  looked  upon 
Lincoln  as  not  only  obscure,  but  ignorant,  uncouth,  and  inca 
pable.  Most  of  his  support,  indeed,  came  from  men  who  regarded 
him  as  "  available "  rather  than  particularly  desirable.  Al 
most  no  one  of  prominence  yet  dreamed  of  the  wise,  patient, 
steadfast,  far-seeing  man,  of  homely  grandeur,  that  the  next 
years  were  to  reveal. 

Lincoln  was  a  strong  candidate  from  the  first,  and  his  cause  was  skill 
fully  handled.  On  the  morning  of  the  nomination,  the  Seward  men 
paraded  the  city  in  imposing  fashion  ;  but  when  they  reached  the  wigwam 
they  found  the  center  of  the  hall  filled  with  a  solid  mass  of  Lincoln  sup 
porters  (including  some  men  whose  stentorian  lungs  were  their  chief 
recommendation)  ;  and  grave  observers  believed  that  the  greater  vol 
ume  of  Lincoln  noise  had  much  to  do  with  deciding  wavering  delega 
tions.  Probably  the  result  was  due  more  directly  to  an  unhappy  bargain 
made  by  Lincoln's  managers  with  Senator  Cameron,  the  political  boss  of 
Pennsylvania.  Cameron  transferred  fifty  delegates,  pledged  to  himself, 
into  the  Lincoln  column,  in  return  for  a  promise  of  a  place  in  the  Cabi 
net.1  Lincoln  knew  nothing  of  this  at  the  time,  and,  indeed,  had  ex 
pressly  forbidden  any  such  "bargains"  in  his  behalf  ;  but  afterwards  he 
made  the  pledge  good  —  until  Cameron's  official  corruption  compelled 
dismissal. 

652.  With  the  Democratic  party  hopelessly  divided,  Repub 
lican  victory  in  the  electoral  college  was  almost  certain.  To  the 
South,  that  prospect  was  alarming.  The  Republican  platform 
had  once  more  reasserted  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  inter 
fere  with  slavery  in  the  States ;  but  in  the  1858  debate  with 
Douglas,  Lincoln  had  said  boldly  and  sagaciously :  — 

.  "  '  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this  govern 
ment  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect 
the  house  to  fall ;  but  I  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become 
all  one  thing  or  all  the  other." 

The  South  saw  that  this  speech  was  the  real  platform, — to  which 
the  Republican  party  would  have  to  come.  Republican  success 
would  mean  eventually  a  reversal  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  con- 

1  Pennsylvania  was  one  of  the  doubtful  States ;  and  the  platform  empha 
sized  protection,  so  as  to  appeal  to  her  manufacturing  interests. 


550  CAMPAIGN   OF   1860  [§  653 

tinned  progress  toward  Lincoln's  "  nation  all  free,"  if  the  nation 
held  together  at  all. 

653.  The  South   did  not   shrink.     Deliberately,  in  advance, 
it  made  preparations  to  break  up  the  Union  and  save  slavery. 

North  and  South  no  longer  understood  each  other.  In  the 
seventy  years  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the  North 
had  moved  steadily  toward  new  intellectual  and  moral  stand 
ards  and  a  new  system  of  industry :  the  South  had  remained 
stagnant.  As  a  Southern  writer  said  :  "  The  whirl  and  rush  of 
progress  encompassed  the  South  on  every  side.  .  .  .  Yet  alone 
in  all  the  world  she  stood  unmoved  by  it."  The  North  had 
adopted  the  new  Websterian  views  of  the  Constitution,  in 
accord  with  modern  needs :  the  South  clung  to  the  old, 
outgrown  views  expressed  by  Calhoun.  The  great  Protestant 
denominations  —  Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians  —  had 
already  split  apart  into  distinct  churches,  North  and  South,  on 
the  slavery  issue.  Southern  associations  were  forming,  pledged 
to  import  manufactures  from  England  rather  than  from  the 
North.  The  North  condemned  the  South  as  a  community  built 
upon  a  great  sin  :  the  South  despised  and  reviled  the  North  as 
a  race  of  "  mudsills  "  and  cheats,  and  boasted  its  own  higher 
sense  of  honesty  and  honor.  Unity  was  already  gone  in  hearts, 
in  industry,  in  religious  organizations.  It  was  going  in  com 
mercial  intercourse.  It  could  nqt  long  endure,  on  such  terms, 
in  government. 

654.  Lincoln  carried  every  Northern  State  (including  Cali 
fornia)  except  for   three  of   the  seven  New  Jersey  electors. 
Douglas  received   only  those  three  votes  and   the  nine  from 
Missouri,  though  his  popular  vote  was  nearly  as  large  as  Lincoln's. 
Bell  carried  the  moderate  Border  States,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and 
Tennessee.     All  the  other  Southern  States  went  to  Brecken- 
ridge.     Lincoln  had  180  electoral  votes  to  123  for  his  three  com 
petitors  combined  ;  but  in  the  popular  vote,  he  had  only  1,857,610 
out  of  a  total  of  4,645,390.     The  victory  was  narrow  ;  and  it 
was  the   victory  of  a  divided  section  over  a  weaker  but  more 
united  section. 


100° 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION 
OF  1860 

From  Chadwlck's   Causes  of  the  Civil  War,  Copyright,  190/1 

by  Harper  &  Brothers 

SCALE  OF   MILES 
0      50  100          200         3o7T        400        ^loC^^ToO 

LINCOLN  BRECKENRIDGE  BELL  DOUGLAS 

•  Circlet  show  next  highest  vote  for  each  candidate  as  above. 
Numbers  show  vote  cast  for  highest  and  next  highest. 
Gothic  Numbers  thus;  4  show  electoral  vote  of  state- 
Electoral  vote  of  New  Jersey  was  divided:  4  for  Lincoln,  8  for  Douglas* 
Breckenridge  received  44.7  per  cent  of  the  Southern  vote,  and  Sell  received  40.4  %, 


110° 


Longitude  100° 


PART   XI 

NATIONALISM  VICTORIOUS,  1860-1876 


CHAPTER   LVII 
THE  CALL  TO  ARMS 

655.  NOVEMBER  10,  four  days  after  Lincoln's*  election,  the 
^gislature  of  South  Carolina  appropriated  money  for  arms, 
and  called  a  State  convention  to  act  on  the  question  of  secession. 
All  over  the  State,  Palmetto  banners  unfurled  and  "  liberty 
poles  "  rose.  December  17,  the  convention  met.  Three  days 
later,  it  unanimously  "  repealed  "  the  ratification  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  by  the  State  convention  of  1788,  and  declared  that 
"  the  State  of  South  Carolina  has  resumed  her  place  among  the 
nations  of  the  world."  By  February  1,  like  action  had  been 
taken  in  Georgia  and  the  five  Gulf  States  —  the  entire  southern 
tier  of  States.1 

1  Northern  writers  have  sometimes  charged  that  the  Southern  leaders  carried 
secession  as  a  "  conspiracy,"  and  that  they  were  afraid  to  refer  the  matter  to 
a  direct  vote.  This  is  absolutely  wrong.  Public  opinion  forced  Jefferson 
Davis  onward  faster  than  he  liked ;  and  the  mass  of  small  farmers  were  more 
ardent  than  the  aristocracy  —  whose  large  property  interests  tended,  perhaps, 
to  keep  them  conservative.  For  more  than  a  year,  in  the  less  aristocratic 
counties,  popular  conventions,  local  meetings,  and  newspapers  had  been 
threatening  secession  if  a  President  unfriendly  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
should  be  elected ;  and  when  even  the  "  Fire-eater  "  Toombs  paused  at  the  last 
moment,  to  contemplate  compromise,  his  constituents  talked  indignantly  of 
presenting  him  with  a  tin  sword.  The  South  was  vastly  more  united  in  1861 
than  the  colonies  were  in  1776.  The  leaders  acted  through  conventions,  not 
because  they  feared  a  popular  vote,  but  because  their  political  methods  had 
remained  unchanged  for  seventy  years. 

551 


552  THE   CALL   TO  ARMS   IN   18G1  [§  656 

February  4,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  seven  seced 
ing  States  met  to  form  a  new  union  —  "  the  Confederate  States  of 
America"  The  constitution  was  modeled  upon  that  of  the 
old  Union,  with  some  new  emphasis  on  State  sovereignty. 
Jefferson  Davis  was  soon  chosen  President  of  the  Confederacy, 
and  Alexander  H.  Stephens  Vice  President. 

656.  Few  Southerners  questioned  the  right  of  a  "sovereign  State  "  to 
secede.     The  sole  difference  of  opinion  was  whether  sufficient  provocation 
existed  to  make  such  action  wise.    When  a  State  convention  had  voted 
for  secession,  even  the  previous  "  Union  men  "  went  with  their  State,  con 
scientiously  and  enthusiastically.     Thus,  Alexander  H.  Stephens  made  a 
desperate  struggle  in  Georgia  for  the  Union,  both  in  the  State  campaign 
and  in  the  convention;  but  when  the  convention  decided  against  him 
208  to  6Q,1  he  cast  himself  devotedly  into  secession.     He  would  have 
thought  any  other  course  treason.    Allegiance,  the  South  felt,  was  due 
primarily  to  one's  State. 

To  understand  the  splendid  devotion  of  the  South  to  a  hopeless  cause 
during  the  bloody  years  that  followed,  we  must  understand  this  view 
point.  The  South  fought  "  to  keep  the  past  upon  its  throne  ";  but  it  believed, 
with  every  drop  of  its  blood,  that  it  was  fighting  for  the  sacred  right  of  self-gov 
ernment,  against  "  conquest "  by  tyrannical  "  invaders. " 

657.  The  Confederacy  did  not  believe  the  North  would  use 
force  against  secession.     Still  it  made  vigorous  preparation  for 
possible  war.     As  each  State  seceded,  its  citizens  in  Congress 
and  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  resigned  their  offices. 
The  small  army  and  navy  of  the  Union  was  in  this  way  com 
pletely   demoralized,  —  losing  nearly  half  its  officers.      Each 
seceding  State,  too,  seized  promptly  upon  the  Federal  forts  and 
arsenals  within  its  limits,  —  sending  commissioners  to  Wash 
ington  to   arrange    for  money  compensation.     In   the   seven 
seceded  States,  the  Federal  government  retained  only  Fort 
Sumter   in   Charleston   harbor  and  three  forts   on   the   Gulf. 

1  The  real  test  vote  had  come  a  little  earlier  — 165  to  130.  This  was  the 
strongest  Union  vote  in  the  Lower  South.  In  Mississippi,  the  test  stood  84  to 
15;  in  Florida,  62  to  7;  in  Alabama,  61  to  39;  in  Louisiana,  113  to  17.  In 
Texas  the  question  was  referred  to  the  people,  and  in  spite  of  a  vigorous  Union 
campaign  by  Governor  Sam  Houston,  they  voted  three  to  one  for  secession. 


.§  660]  SECESSION  AND  CONFEDERACY  553 

Federal  courts  ceased  to  be  held  in  the  seceded  States,  because 
of  the  resignation  of  judges  and  other  officials  and  the  absolute 
impossibility  of  securing  jurors.  Federal  tariffs  were  no  longer 
collected.  Only  the  post  office  remained  as  a  symbol  of  the 
old  Union. 

658.  President  Buchanan,  in  his  message  to  Congress  in  De 
cember,  declared  that  the  Constitution  gave  no  State  the  right 
to  secede,  but  —  a  curious  paradox  —  that  it  gave  the  govern 
ment  no  right  "  to  coerce  a  sovereign  State  "  if  it  did  secede. 
For  the  remaining  critical  three  months  of  his  term  he  let  se 
cession  gather  head  as  it  liked.     With  homely  wit,  Seward  wrote 
to  his  wife  that  the  Message  shows  "  conclusively  that  it  is  the 
President's  duty  to  execute  the  laws  —  unless  some  one  opposes 
him ;  and  that  no  State  has  a  right  to  go  out  of  the  Union  —  un 
less  it  wants  to." 

659.  This  flabby  policy,  moreover,  was  much  like  the  attitude  of 
the  masses  of  the  North  during  those  same  months.     Even  from 
Republican  leaders  resounded  the  cry,  "  Let  the  erring  sisters 
go  in  peace." 

In  October,  General  Scott,  Commander  of  the  army,  suggested  to  the 
President  a  division  of  the  country  into  four  confederacies,  — for  which  he 
outlined  boundaries.  Northern  papers  declared  "coercion"  both  wrong 
and  impossible.  Horace  Greeley's  New  York  Tribune,  for  years  the  great 
est  antislavery  organ  and  the  chief  molder  of  Republican  opinion,  expressed 
these  views  repeatedly  :  "  We  hope  never  to  live  in  a  republic,  whereof 
one  section  is  pinned  to  another  by  bayonets "  (November  9)  ;  "  Five 
millions  of  people  .  .  .  can  never  be  subdued  while  fighting  around  their 
own  hearthstones"  (November  30)  ;  "The  South  has  as  good  a  right  to 
secede  from  the  Union  as  the  colonies  had  to  secede  from  Great  Britain" 
(December  17)  ;  "  If  the  Cotton  States  wish  to  form  an  independent  nation, 
they  have  a  clear  moral  right  to  do  so  "  (February  23,  1861) .  Even  Lowell 
thought  the  South  "not  worth  conquering  back."  And  Wendell  Phillips 
asserted  (April  9),  "Abraham  Lincoln  has  no  right  to  a  soldier  in  Fort 
Sumter. " 

660.  The   Border  States   urged  one  more  try  at  compromise. 

Virginia  called  a  Peace  Convention  which  was  well  attended 
and  which  sat  at  Washington  through  February.  This  body,  and 


554  THE   CALL  TO  ARMS   IN   1861  [§  661 

many  Republican  leaders,  proposed  various  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  to  fortify  slavery  and  so  conciliate  the  South :  es 
pecially  (1)  to  provide  Federal  compensation  for  escaped  slaves, 
and  (2)  to  divide  the  National  domain,  present  and  future,  be 
tween  slavery  and  freedom,  along  the  line  of  the  old  Missouri 
Compromise. 

But  the  only  outcome  of  the  compromise  agitation  was  the  hasty 
submission  to  the  country  of  an  amendment  prohibiting  Congress 
from  ever  interfering  with  slavery  in  the  States.  As  Lincoln 
said,  this  merely  made  express  what  was  already  clearly  implied 
in  the  Constitution,  and  it  was  wholly  inadequate  to  satisfy  the 
South.  It  passed  Congress  with  a  solid  Republican  vote,  how 
ever,  and  was  ratified  by  three  Northern  States  before  war 
stopped  the  process. 

661.  Lincoln's  inaugural,  on  March  4,  was  a  winning  answer 
to  Southern  claims  and  a  firm  declaration  of  policy. 

[As  to  the  reason  for  secession]:  "Apprehension seems  to  exist  among 
the  people  of  the  Southern  States  that  .  .  .  their  property  and  their  peace 
and  personal  security  are  to  be  endangered.  There  has  never  been  any 
reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension.  .  .  .  I  have  no  purpose,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where 
it  exists.'1'' 

[After  demolishing  the  constitutional  "  right "  of  secession]  :  "  I  there 
fore  consider  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  Union  is 
unbroken  ;  and  to  the  extent  of  my  ability,  I  shall  take  care  .  .  .  that  the 
laws  of  the  Union  shall  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States.  ...  In 
doing  this  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  .  .  .  unless  it  is  forced  upon  the 
National  authority.  .  .  The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold  .  .  . 
the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  government,  and  to  collect  the  duties 
and  imposts ;  but  beyond  what  may  be  necessary  for  these  objects  there 
will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force  against  the  people  anywhere." 

[Then,  recognizing  the  right  of  revolution,  the  deplorable  loss  from  any 
division  of  the  Union  is  set  forth]  :  "  Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  sep 
arate  :  we  cannot  remove  our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor  build 
an  impassable  wall  between  them.  .  .  .  Intercourse,  either  amicable  or 
hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that 
intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satisfactory  after  separation  than 
before  ?  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws  ? 

"  In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not  in  mine, 


§  663]  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  555 

is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  .  .  .  You  have  no  oath  registered  in 
heaven  to  destroy  the  government,  while  I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one 
to  'preserve,  protect,  and  defend'  it." 

662.  Statesmen  showered  the  new  President  with  advice. 
Lincoln  heard  all  patiently;  but  his  real  efforts  were  given  to 
keeping  in  touch,  not  with  "  leaders,"  but  with  the  plain  people 
whom  he  so  well  understood.  His  own  eyes  were  set  unwaver 
ing  upon  his  goal  —  the  preservation  of  the  Union  —  while  with 
unrivaled  skill,  he  kept  his  ringer  on  the  Nation's  pulse,  to  know 
how  fast  he  might  move  toward  that  end.  For  a  time  he  was 
railed  at  by  noisy  extremists,  who  would  have  had  him  faster 
or  slower ;  but  the  silent  masses  responded  to  his  sympathy 
and  answered  his  appeal  with  love  and  perfect  trust,  and  en 
abled  him  to  carry  through  successfully  the  greatest  task  so  far 
set  for  any  American  statesman.1 

Despite  the  seeming  cowardice  or  apathy  of  Northern  statesmen,  the 
masses  needed  only  a  blow  and  a  leader  to  rally  them  for  the  Union. 
South  Carolina  fired  on  the  flag,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  called  the  North 
to  arms. 

663.  From  November  to  April,  Major  Anderson  and  sixty 
soldiers  had  held  Fort  Sumter  in  Charleston  harbor.  In  vain 
he  had  pleaded  to  Buchanan  for  reinforcements.  In  January, 
Buchanan  made  a  feeble  show  of  sending  some ; 2  but  the  un 
armed  vessel,  weakly  chosen  for  the  purpose,  was  easily  turned 

1  The  country  now  paid  heavily,  through  the  wear  upon  its  burdened  chief 
tain,  for  its  low  tone  toward  the  spoils  system.    Washington  was  thronged, 
beyond    all    precedent,  with    office    seekers,  who    were   "  Kepublicans    for 
revenue  " ;   and  the  first  precious  weeks  of  the  new  administration  had  to 
go  largely  to  settling  petty  personal  disputes  over  plunder.     Lincoln  com 
pared  himself  to  a  man  busied  in  assigning  rooms  in  a  palace  to  importunate 
applicants,  while  the  structure  itself  was  burning  over  his  head  ;  and  in  1862, 
when  an  old  Illinois  friend  remarked  on  his  careworn  face,  he  exclaimed  with 
petulant  humor,  —  "It  isn't  this  war  that's  killing  me,  Judge:  it's  your  con 
founded  Pepperton  postoffice!  " 

2  Buchanan  was  shamed  or  forced  to  this  step  by  his  Cabinet,  who  threat 
ened  otherwise  to  resign.    That  body  was  now  made  up  of  Northern  Demo 
crats  ;  and  they  meant  at  least  to  defend  the  National  property. 


556  THE   CALL  TO  ARMS   IN   1861  [§  664 

back  by  Secessionist  shells  ;  and  further  efforts  were  soon  made 
difficult  by  rising  batteries  —  whose  construction  Anderson's 
orders  did  not  permit  him  to  prevent. 

A  month  after  taking  office,  Lincoln  decided,  against  all  his 
Cabinet,  to  send  supplies  to  Anderson.  The  Confederates  took 
this  decision  as  a  declaration  of  war,  and  attacked  the  fort. 
April  12,  the  bombardment  of  Sumter  began ;  and  thirty  hours 
later,  with  the  fortress  in  ruins,  Major  Anderson  surrendered. 
The  next  day  (April  15)  the  wires  flashed  over  the  country  Lincoln's 
stirring  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers. 

664.  The  call  to  arms  brought  a  magnificent  uprising  of  the 
North.     Laborers,  mechanics,  business  men,  professional  men, 
college  boys  and  their  learned  teachers,  shouldered  muskets  side 
by  side.     From  Maine  to  California,  devotion  and  love  for  the 
Union  spoke  with  one  mighty  voice.     Banks  offered  huge  loans 
without  security,  and  wealthy  men  placed  their  private  fortunes 
at  the  disposal  of  the  government.     By  July,  310,000  men  were 
in  the  field.     Before  the  close  of  1861,  the  number  was  660,000, 
enlisted  for  "  three  years  or  the  war." 

Party  distinctions  in  the  North  faded.  Talk  of  compromise 
was  drowned  in  the  din  of  arms.  Douglas,  dying  though  he 
was,  hastened  gallantly  to  Lincoln's  support ;  and  Buchanan 
gave  cordial  aid.  Lowell  wrote  (Atlantic  Monthly,  June,  1861) 
of  "  that  first  gun  at  Sumter  which  brought  the  free  States  to 
their  feet  as  one  man  "  ;  and  four  years  later,  while  sorrowing 
for  his  own  glorious. dead,  he  told  again  how 

"  America  lay  asleep,  like  the  princess  of  the  fairy  tale,  enchanted  by 
prosperity.  But  at  the  fiery  kiss  of  war  the  spell  is  broken,  the  blood 
tingles  along  her  veins,  and  she  awakens,  conscious  of  her  beauty  and  her 
sovereignty.  .  .  .  What  splendid  possibilities  has  not  our  trial  revealed, 
even  to  ourselves  !  What  costly  stuff  whereof  to  make  a  Nation  !  " 

665.  The  Confederacy  sprang  to  arms  with   even   greater 
unanimity.     And  now  the  remaining  Slave  States  had  to  choose 
sides.     Within  six  weeks  the  second  tier  (North  Carolina  and 
Virginia,  Tennessee,  Arkansas)  joined  the  Confederacy  rather 


§  666]  FORT   SUMTER  557 

than  join  in  attempts  "  to  coerce  sister  States  "  ; 1  and  the  Con 
federate  capital  was  moved  from  Montgomery  to  Richmond, 
within  striking  distance  of  Washington. 

The  people  of  the  western  counties  in  Virginia  had  been  opposed  to 
secession.  When  the  State  withdrew,  they  organized  a  separate  State 
government,  and  (1863)  were  admitted  to  the  Union  as  West  Virginia. 

666.  The  third  tier  of  Slave  States  (Maryland  and  Delaware, 
Kentucky,  Missouri)  were  the  true  "  Border  States."  Delaware 
was  firm  for  the  Union  from  the  first ;  and  in  spite  of  strong 
secession  sentiment,  the  others  were  finally  kept  in  the  Union 
by  Lincoln's  wise  diplomacy  and  by  swift  action  of  Union 
armies,  —  though  their  inhabitants  sent  many  regiments  to 
swell  the  Southern  ranks.  Missouri  would  have  joined  the 
Confederacy  except  for  vigorous  action  by  the  many  thousands 
of  recent,  freedom-loving  German  immigrants  in  St.  Louis,  who 
stood  stoutly  for  the  Union.  The  lines  were  drawn,  twenty-two 
States  against  eleven. 


1  The  legislature  of  Tennessee  submitted  the  matter  directly  to  the  people ; 
and  the  popular  vote  stood  105,000  to  47,000  (the  eastern  mountain  counties, 
like  their  Virginia  neighbors,  containing  a  strong  Union  element) .  In  Virginia 
the  convention  vote  was  two  to  one  for  secession.  There  also  the  question 
was  submitted  to  a  popular  vote ;  and  the  people  sustained  the  convention  by 
a  vote  of  three  to  one  —  the  opposition  coming  almost  wholly  from  the  western 
counties.  A  Virginian  who  had  been  a  Unionist  delegate  in  the  convention 
was  asked  just  afterwards  —  "What  will  the  Union  men  of  Virginia  do?" 
"  There  are  no  Union  men  left  in  Virginia,"  came  the  swift  reply.  "  We  stand 
this  day  a  united  people  .  .  .  We  will  give  you  a  fight  that  will  stand  out  on 
the  page  of  history." 


UNION  AND  CONFEDERACY  IN  1862. 


CHAPTER   LVIII 

THE  CIVIL  WAR 

I.    CAMPAIGNS 

667.  AT  first  the  North  expected  confidently  to  end  the  con 
flict  in  three  months  — "  by  one  decisive  blow."     From  this 
dream  the  country  awoke  when  the  Union  forces  were  utterly 
routed  at  Bull  Run  (July  21)   in  an  advance  on  Richmond. 
Then,  in  more  wholesome  temper,  it  settled  down  to  a  stern 
war.     That  war  lasted  four  years,  and  was  the  most  tremen 
dous  struggle  the  world  had  ever  seen. 

To  subdue  the  South  two  things  were  essential :  (1)  TJie 
seceding  States  must  be  invaded  and  conquered  on  their  own  soil ; 
but  this  was  plainly  impossible  unless  (2)  a  cordon  was  first 
draivn  about  them,  so  that  they  could  get  no  supplies  from  the 
outside  world. 

668.  To  completely  beleaguer  the  South,  then,  was  the  first 
task.     On  the  land  side,  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  North 
made  this  fairly  easy.     The  Border  States  were  quickly  occu 
pied,  and  the  South  was  kept  upon  the  defensive.     She  did 
make  some  daring  raids  into  Kentucky  and  two  formidable 

558 


668] 


THE  NORTH'S  TWOFOLD  TASK 


559 


invasions  across  the  Potomac  that  threw  the  North  Atlantic 
cities  into  panic ;  but  all  these  sorties  were  failures.  The 
first  one  across  the  Potomac  was  turned  back  at  Antietam, 
September  17,  1862;  and  the  second,  the  "high-tide  of  the 
Confederacy,"  at  Gettysburg,  July  1-3,  1863. 

To  close  the  three  thousand  miles  of  sea  coast  was  a  more  dif 
ficult  matter.     April  19,  1861,  Lincoln  declared  it  blockaded; 


GULF         OF        MEXICO 


SCENE  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

but  this  was  little  more  than  a  statement  of  intention.  Only 
twelve  ships  were  at  the  government's  command.  The  rest  of 
the  small  navy  of  forty-nine  ships  had  fallen  into  Southern 
hands  or  was  scattered  far  in  foreign  ports.  But  blockading 
squadrons  were  hurriedly  bought,  built,  and  adapted  out  of 
coasting  steamers  and  ferryboats ;  and  in  a  few  months  the 
paper  blockade  became  real.  From  that  time  to  the  end,  the 
throttling  grip  on  Southern  commerce  clung  closer  and  closer. 


560 


THE   CIVIL  WAR 


[§  668 


The  export  crops,  cotton  and  tobacco,  were  robbed  of  value. 
In  1860  the  cotton  export  amounted  to  nearly  two  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  ;  in  1862,  to  four  millions.  As  arms,  rail 
way  material,  clothing,  wore  out,  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
replenish  the  supply.  Before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  there 
was  an  alarming  scarcity  of  salt,  butter,  coffee,  candles,  and 


Brady  Photograph. 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  AND  GENERAL  MCCLELLAN  AT  ANTIETAM, 
shortly  after  the  battle  there. 

medicines.  By  recourse  to  homespun,  and  by  raising  corn  in 
stead  of  cotton,  part  of  the  need  was  met.  Part  was  beyond 
remedy. 

Southern  sympathizers  and  venturesome  capitalists  made  it 
a  business  to  build  swift  "  blockade  runners  "  to  carry  supplies 
to  Confederate  ports  from  the  Bermudas,  and  to  bring  out  the 
cotton  piled  up  at-  Southern  wharves  and  worth  fabulous  prices 
in  the  idle  European  factories.  Fifteen  hundred  such  vessels 
were  captured  during  the  war ;  and,  before  the  close,  they  had 
nearly  vanished  from  the  seas.  While  trips  could  be  made  at 
all,  profits  were  enormous.  A  ton  of  salt,  costing  $  7.50  out- 


§668]  THE   BLOCKADE  561 

side  the  Confederacy,  could  be  sold  in,side  in  gold  for  a  profit  of 
20,000  per  cent. 

For  one  moment  it  looked  as  if  the  Union  fleets  would  be 
swept  from  the  seas,  and  the  blockade  raised.  When  the  gov 
eminent  troops  abandoned  Norfolk  navy  yard  (on  the  secession 
of  Virginia),  they  left  there,  only  partially  destroyed,  the  frig 
ate  Merrimac.  The  Confederates  built  on  her  hull  an  iron  roof- 


Brady  Photograph. 

CONFEDERATE  BLOCKADE-RUNNER,  Teazer,  near  Charleston  harbor, — 
captured  soon  after  this  photograph  was  taken. 

ing,  and  sent  her  forth  as  the  Virginia  against  the  wooden  frig 
ates  of  the  United  States  in  Hampton  Roads.  This  first 
armored  ram  on  the  American  coast  sank  two  towering  ships 
(March  8,  1862)  and  steamed  back  to  her  anchorage,  confident 
of  completing  her  mission  on  the  morrow.  But,  during  that 
night,  arrived  at  the  Roads  another  type  of  iron  vessel,  the 
Monitor,  with  low,  flat  deck  surmounted  by  a  revolving  turret 
mounting  two  huge  guns,  —  a  "  cheese  box  on  a  raft."  After  a 
sharp  engagement,  the  Virginia  was  driven  to  seek  shelter. 


562 


THE   CIVIL  WAR 


[§  669 


The  blockade  was  saved,  —  and   the  knell  had  sounded  for 
wooden  men-of-war.1 

669.  Invasion  of  the  Confederacy  had  been  simplified  tremen 
dously  by  the  saving  of  the  Border  States  to  the  Union.  There 
were  three  primary  lines  of  attack.  (1)  The  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  with  headquarters  about  Washington,  must  try  to 


MONITOR  AND  MEBRIMAC.    From  a  painting. 

capture  Eichmond,  the  political  center  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
crush  the  army  of  defense  —  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 
(2)  In  the  West,  the  Unionists  must  secure  the  Tennessee  and 
Cumberland  rivers,  so  as  to  occupy  Tennessee  and  to  open  roads 
into  Mississippi  and  Alabama.  And  (3)  the  course  of  the 
Mississippi  had  to  be  secured  by  the  capture  of  such  Confeder- 

1  Vessels  had  been  covered  with  iron  plates  in  some  of  the  earlier  campaigns 
on  the  Mississippi ;  and  England  and  France  had  constructed  some  ironclads ; 
but  it  was  the  spectacular  battle  of  "  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac"  which 
demonstrated  to  the  world  the  arrival  of  a  new  order  —  following  the  victories 
of  the  Merrimac  on  the  preceding  day. 

The  Monitor  was  the  invention  of  a  Swedish  immigrant,  John  Ericsson ; 
and  she  had  been  just  completed,  after  a  hurried  three  months. 


669] 


THE  SOUTH  EXHAUSTED 


563 


ate  strongholds  as  New  Madrid,  Island  No.  10,  Port  Hudson, 
Memphis,  and  New  Orleans. 

Secondary  lines  of  invasion  were  pointed  out  by  the  location  of  the  more 
important  railways  —  especially  those  from  west  to  east,  such  as  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston  Road.  To  secure  these  roads,  engagements  were 
fought  in  1862  at  Corinth,  Pittsburg  Landing,  Shiloh,  and  Memphis. 

VicJcsburg,  the  last  of  the  river  fortresses  to  hold  out,  was 
forced  to  surrender  to  General  Grant  on  July  3,  1863  (the 
final  day  of  Gettysburg)  ;  so  that  the  Father  of  Waters  "  once 

more  rolled  unvexed    , 

to  the  sea,"  cutting 
off  Arkansas,  Texas, 
and  most  of  Louisiana 
from  the  main  body  of 
the  Confederacy.  The 
second  task  had  be 
gun  earlier,  but  lasted 
longer.  Grant  had 
captured  Forts  Donel- 
son  and  Henry,  com 
manding  the  lower 
courses  of  the  Ten 
nessee  rivers,  in  1862 ; 
but  Union  occupation 
of  Tennessee,  and  in 
deed  of  the  line  of 
the  Ohio,  was  not 
assured,  until,  after 
oscillating  campaigns 
and  some  of  the  most 
bloody  fighting  of  the 
war,  Grant,  Thomas, 
and  Sherman  drove  the  Confederates  from  Chattanooga,  in 
November  of  1863. 

This  decisive  victory  opened  up  a  fourth  line  of  invasion,  to 
Atlanta,  —  at  the  farther  end  of  the  Atlanta  and  Chattanooga 


Brady  Photograph. 

GENERAL  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.    From  a 
photograph  in  1865. 


564 


THE  CIVIL  WAR 


t§  669 


Railway,  —  only  135  miles  distant,  but  with  an  intervening  re 
gion  of  rugged  mountains.  Atlanta  was  located  in  the  iron  and 
coal  region  of  northern  Georgia  and  was  becoming  a  center  for 
manufacturing  arms  and  railway  material.  As  the  only  such 
center  in  the  Confederacy,  its  capture  was  of  supreme  impor 
tance.  This  became  Sherman's  task  in  the  summer  of  '64  in  a 
four  months'  campaign,  against  the  skillful  opposition  of  the 
outnumbered  Johnston  and  the  pounding  of  his  desperate  suc 
cessor,  Hood. 

Atlanta  was  taken  September  3.    Leaving  its  factories  in  ashes, 
and  detaching  Thomas  with  sufficient  force  to  engage  Hood, 


|  ITerritorie 


UNION  AND  CONFEDERACY  AFTER  GETTYSBURG .1 

Sherman  then  (November)  struck  out  a  fifth  line  of  invasion, 
through  the  heart  of  the  Confederacy  for  Savannah,  —  living 
on  the  country  and  finding  not  even  a  militia  to  oppose  him. 
Meantime,  in  the  East,  the  genius  of  Lee 2  and  the  splendid 

1  Cf .  with  map  on  page  558. 

2  Robert  E.  Lee  ranks  among  the  noblest  figures  in  American  history.    He 
loved  the  Union  deeply ;  but  when  Virginia  seceded,  he  declined  an  offer  of 
the  command  of  the  Union  armies,  and  gave  his  sword  to  the  Confederacy. 


§  670]  FORCES,  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  565 

fighting  qualities  of  his  devoted  but  diminishing  army,  aided, 
too,  by  geographical  conditions,  —  trackless  swamps  and  broad 
streams  subject  to  sudden  floods,  —  held  the  Union  forces  at 
bay  year  after  year,  until  Grant  was  brought  from  the  West 
and  given  men  in  ever  fresh  multitudes  to  wear  down  his  oppo 
nents.  Even  then,  Lee's  thinned  and  starving  veterans  re 
mained  unconquered,  until  the  empty  shell  of  the  Confederacy 
had  been  pierced  from  circumference  to  circumference,  and  its 
absolute  exhaustion  bared  to  the  world,  by  Sherman's  devas 
tating  "  March  to  the  Sea."  The  South  did  not  yield  :  it  was 
pulverized. 

II.    FORCES 

670.  In  the  North  one  man  out  of  two  bore  arms  at  some 
period  of  the  war ;  and  one  man  out  of  three  served  three  years. 
In  the  South  nine  men  out  of  ten  bore  arms,  and  eight  out  of 
ten  served  three  years.  The  total  enlistments  in  the  North 
counted  2,900,000 ;  in  the  South,  1,400,000.  The  three-year 
average  for  the  North  was  1,557,000 ;  for  the  South,  1,082,000. 
With  far  less  effort  than  the  South,  the  North  kept  a  half 
more  men  in  the  field. 

But  this  does  not  take  account  of  the  slaves  who  served  as 
teamsters,  laborers  on  fortifications,  cooks,  and  servants,  in 
Southern  armies,  doing  work  that  had  to  be  performed  by  en 
listed  men  on  the  other  side.1  The  Southern  forces,  too,  were 
able  to  concentrate  more  rapidly,  because  they  moved  on  the  in 
side  lines  and  knew  the  roads  better.  Perhaps,  too,  they  were 
handled  with  greater  skill.  Certainly,  until  the  final  year,  the 
armies  in  actual  conflict  did  not  often  vary  greatly  in  numbers. 

Then,  indeed,  the  exhausted  South  could  no  longer  make 
good  her  losses  in  battle  —  though  her  stern  recruiting  system 

The  recent  acceptance  by  Congress  of  his  statue,  to  stand  in  Statuary  Hall  in 
the  Capitol  beside  Virginia's  other  great  son,  Washington,  fitly  denotes  the 
reunion  of  North  and  South  as  one  people. 

1  On  the  plantations,  too,  under  the  management  of  women,  slaves  raised 
the  food  crops  for  the  South.  Wonderful  to  say,  there  was  no  hint  of  a  slave- 
rising  during  the  war,  and,  until  1863,  very  little  increase  of  runaways. 


566  THE   CIVIL  WAR  [§  671 

did  "  rob  the  cradle  and  the  grave."  Her  ranks  shrank  daily, 
while  the  Northern  armies  grew  larger  than  ever.  At  the 
opening  of  that  last  terrible  year  of  slaughter,  'from  May  5  to 
June  12  (1864),  —  or  from  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg, — 
Grant  hurled  his  120,000  veterans  almost  daily  at  Lee's  70,000, 
suffering  a  loss  of  60,000  to  Lee's  14,000.  New  recruits  were 
always  ready  to  step  into  the  gaps  in  the  Union  regiments ; 
while  the  Confederate  ranks  could  only  close  up  grimly.  In 
the  remaining  campaigns,  the  Union  forces  usually  outnum 
bered  their  opponents  at  least  two  to  one.  To  add  to  the  dis 
parity,  Grant  sternly  refused  to  exchange  prisoners. 

671.  Military  prisons  are  always  a  sore  subject.     There  is 
usually  a  tendency,  in  a  long  conflict,  for  their  administration, 
on  both  sides,  to  fall  to  men  less  competent  and  less  chivalrous 
than  those  who  seek  service  at  the  front.     Even  in  the  early 
years  of  the  war,  there  had  been  terrible  misery  in  the  prisons 
at  the  South  —  where   medicines  and  supplies  were  wanting 
even  for  the  Confederate  soldiers.     With  less  excuse,  there 
had    been    cruel    suffering   also  in  Northern    prison    camps. 
Toward  the  close,  when  the  South  was  unable  to  feed  her  sol 
diers  at  the  front,  or  to  spare   adequate   forces   for  guards, 
conditions  became  horrible  in  the  Southern  prisons,  —  espe 
cially  after  Grant's  refusal  to  exchange  prisoners  packed  the 
already  crowded  Libby  and  Andersonville  with  Union  soldiers. 

On  this  whole  topic  the  student  will  do  well  to  consult  Rhodes'  ex 
haustive  and  impartial  treatment  (History,  V,  483-615),  and  especially 
to  note  his  conclusion  :  —  "  All  things  considered,  the  statistics  [of 
deaths]  show  no  reason  why  the  North  should  reproach  the  South." 

672.  In  1863  there  was  a  falling  off  of  enlistment  in  the 
North,  and  Congress  authorized  a  "  draft,"  —  a  conscription  by 
lot  from  able-bodied  males  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and 
forty.     In  enforcing  this  law,  some  officials  seem  to  have  dis 
criminated  against  Democratic  districts  ;  and  violent  anti-draft 
riots  broke  out  in  several  Eastern  cities.     These  were  put  down 
sternly  by  the  military ;  but  not  till  New  York  had  been  three 


§  674]        LEGAL  TENDER  AND  PAPER  MONEY  567 

days  in  the  hands  of  a  murderous  "  nigger-hunting  "  mob,  and 
only  after  a  sacrifice  of  a  thousand  lives. 

Altogether  the  draft  furnished  less  than  forty  thousand 
troops.  Its  real  work  lay  in  influencing  State  legislatures  to 
stimulate  enlistment  by  generous  bounties.  Such  moneys  fur 
nished  support  for  dependent  mothers  and  for  children,  and  so 
enabled  many  a  man  to  volunteer  who  otherwise  must  have 
worked  at  home.  But  it  remains  absolutely  true,  as  Lowell 
said,  that  ",the  bounty  which  drew  our  best  soldiers  to  the 
ranks  was  an  idea"  For  the  South,  this  was  even  more  true, 
mistaken  though  the  idea  was ;  but  even  the  South  had  re 
course  to  conscription,  extending  it  to  boys  of  seventeen  and 
men  of  fifty.  In  most  districts,  however,  volunteer  enlistment 
had  left  small  gleanings  for  this  desperate  law. 


III.   WAR   FINANCE 

673.  The  Buchanan  administration  left  the  treasury  empty, 
a  debt  mounting,  and  credit  dubious ;  but  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
Lincoln's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  supported  loyally  by 
Congress  in  a  course  of  vigorous  war  finance.     Year  by  year, 
bonds  were  sold  at  home  or  abroad  in  amounts  which  at  any 
earlier  time  would  have   seemed   fabulous.     A  direct  tax  of 
$20,000,000  was  apportioned  among  the  States.     An  income  tax 
of  3  per  cent  on  all  incomes  over  $800  was  imposed;  and  in 
1864  this  was  raised  to  4  per  cent,  with  5  and  10  per  cent  rates 
on  very  large  surpluses.     Internal  excises  and  stamp  duties  of 
the  most  varied  and  searching  description  reached  almost  all 
callings,  products,  and  business  transactions.     Session  by  ses 
sion  Congress  devised  higher  and  higher  "  war-tariffs"  rising  to 
rates  before  unheard  of,  to  remain  without  change  twenty  years 
after  the  war  was  over.     And  a  series  of  "  Legal  Tender  Acts  " 
provided  half  a  billion  of  dollars  of  paper  money,  based  only  on 
the  faith  of  the  government  and  amounting  to  a  "forced  loan." 

674.  These  "  greenbacks  "  mentioned  no  specific  date  for  re 
demption,  nor  did  the  law  provide  any  specific  security,  and  of 


568  THE   CIVIL  WAR  [§  675 

course  the  value  fluctuated  with  success  or  failure  in  the  field. 
Depreciation  set  in  at  once.  Gold  was  hoarded  or  sent  abroad 
in  trade ;  and  011  one  dark  day  in  1864  it  sold  at  285,  while 
most  of  the  time  after  1862  a  dollar  of  paper  was  really  worth 
only  from  fifty  to  seventy  cents.  Prices  rose,  for  this  reason 
and  for  other  causes  connected  with  the  war,  to  some  90  per 
cent  above  the  old  level.  Wages  rose,  too;  but  more  slowly, 
and  only  two  thirds  as  much,  —  so  that  the  laboring  classes  bore 
the  great  part  of  the  cost  of  the  war.  Workinginen  endured 
much  suffering,  even  while  "  business  "  was  exceedingly  "  pros 
perous." 

675.  Toward  the  close  of  the  war,  taxation  was  bringing  in 
half  a  billion  a  year ;  but  in  1863  the  expenditure  had  risen  to 
two  and  a  half  millions  a  day  —  or  two  times  the  daily  income. 
Business  could  not   well  stand   more  taxes;  nor   could   more 
paper  money  be  issued   safely.     The  extra  amount  must  be 
borrowed  by  selling  new  bonds.     But  how  could  the  govern 
ment  induce   capitalists  to  buy  them  in  sufficient  amounts  ? 
Chase  solved  this  problem  in  part  by  the  National  Banking  Acts 
of  1863  and  1864  —  the  basis  also  of  a  system  of  banks  and 
bank  currency  better  than  America  had  before  known. 

Any  association  of  five  or  more  persons,  with  a  capital  of 
at  least  $100,000,  was  authorized  (1)  to  organize  a  National 
bank,  (2)  purchase  National  bonds  to  the  amount  of  one  third 
the  capital,  (3)  deposit  the  bonds  in  the  National  Treasury, 
and  (4),  issue  "  National  bank  notes "  on  that  security.  A 
supplementary  Act  placed  a  tax  of  10  per  cent  on  notes 
issued  by  State  banks.  Hundreds  of  State  banks  then  reorgan 
ized  as  National  banks,  and  their  new  demand  for  bonds  met 
the  needs  of  the  Treasury. 

676.  Capital  is  notoriously  timid,  and  business  notoriously 
selfish.     There   were  not  wanting  the  customary  shames   of 
army  contractors  who   swelled  their   fortunes  by  furnishing 
shoddy   clothing,  paper-soled  shoes,  and   rotten   food   to  the 
troops ;  while  other  more  adventurous  pirates  of  finance  made 
fabulous  profits  by  illicit  or  treasonable  trade  with  the  South. 


§  678]  TAXATION,  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  569 

But  on  the  whole  the  monied  men  showed  a  noble  patriotism. 
Andrew  D.  White  tells  a  typical  story  (Autobiography,  I,  89) 

of  the  roughly  expressed  idealism  of  a  multimillionaire  —  still 
a  rare  phenomenon  in  the  sixties  - —  who  had 

"risen  by  hard  work  from  simple  beginnings  to  the  head  of  an  immense 
business  ...  a  hard,  determined,  shrewd  man  of  affairs,  the  last  man  in 
the  world  to  show  anything  like  sentimentalism.  ...  He  said  something 
advising  investment  in  the  newly  created  national  debt.  I  answered, 
4  You  are  not,  then,  one  of  those  who  believe  that  our  debt  will  be  re 
pudiated  ?  '  He  rejoined  :  '  Repudiation  or  no  repudiation,  I  am  putting 
everything  I  can  rake  and  scrape  together  into  national  bonds,  to  help 
this  government  maintain  itself ;  for,  by  God,  if  I  am  not  to  have  any 
country,  I  don't  want  any  money.'  " 

677.  Northern  statesmanship  also  devoted  itself  deliberately  and 
effectively  to  encouraging  the  production  of  wealth  —  that  there 
might  be  more  to  tax.     The  demand  for  war  supplies  and  the 
high   tariffs   stimulated  manufactures  enormously.     Congress 
gave  vast  amounts  of  land  and  money  to  the  Union  Pacific  to 
enable  that  company  to  build  a  railway  across  the  continent, 
and  other  railways  opened  up  great  tracts  of  new  territory  to 
agriculture.     In  1862  the  Morrill  Bill  offered  National  land 
grants  to  State  institutions  providing  scientific  training  in  ag 
riculture  and  in  mechanical  arts.     The  same  year  the  long- 
delayed  "Homestead  Bill"  (§641)   offered  free  160  acres  of 
land   to.  any   head   of   a   family   who   would   live   upon   and 
improve  it. 

678.  The  South  had  little  wealth  to  tax.     It  had  no  capitalists 
to  buy  its  bonds ;  and  they  could   not  long  be  sold  abroad. 
Paper  money  was  issued  in  floods  by  both  central  and  State 
governments,  —  and  depreciated  even  faster  than  the  famous 
"  Continental  currency  "  of  Eevolutionary  days,  so  that  in  1864, 
it  was  not  unusual  for  a  Southern  soldier  to  pay  $200  for  a 
poor  pair  of  shoes.     The  Confederacy  did  not  formally  make 
this  paper  a  legal  tender ;  but,  before  the  end  of  the  war,  it 
was  forced  to  seize  supplies  from  the  fields  and  barns,  and  it 
could  pay  for  them  only  in  this  money  —  at  rates  fixed  from 


570  THE   CIVIL  WAR  [§  679 

month  to  month  by  government  decree.     Neither  bonds  nor 
currency  were  ever  redeemed. 

Thus  the  South  lived  upon  itself.  And  the  capital  that 
could  not  be  eaten,  —  that  which  was  fixed  in  buildings  and 
roads,  —  was  in  large  part  burned  or  ruined  by  the  Northern 
invaders.  Southern  wealth  was  gone  before  the  survivors  of 
her  heroic  men  laid  down  their  arms.  The  world  had  never  seen 
another  so  vast  and  complete  a  devastation  of  a  civilized  land. 

679.  The  great  Republic  emerged  from  the  battle-storm,  glorious  and 
whole,  while  the  world  stood  amazed,  convinced  against  its  will.     The 
resources  of  the  North  were  never  lacking.     They  grew  faster  than  they 
could  be  spent;  and  the   North  had  more  men,  more  tilled  acres,  more 
manufactures  in  1865  than  in  1861. 

But  for  the  South,  as  Woodrow  Wilson  says  so  well,  "the  great 
struggle  was  maintained  by  sheer  spirit  and  self-devotion,  in  spite  of 
constantly  diminishing  resources  and  constantly  waning  hope.  .  .  .  And 
all  for  a  belated  principle  in  government,  an  outgrown  economy,  an  im 
possible  purpose.  There  is  in  history  no  devotion  not  religious,  no  con 
stancy  not  meant  for  success,  that  can  furnish  a  parallel  to  the  devotion 
and  constancy  of  the  South  in  this  extraordinary  war."  The  Ameri 
can  of  to-day  sorrows  at  the  terrible  sacrifice  the  South  made  for  mis 
taken  ends ;  but  his  heart  swells  with  patriotic  emotion  at  the  heroic 
vision  of  that  chivalrous  devotion  to  the  Lost  Cause,  —  that  gallant  con 
stancy,  that  peerless  courage. 

IV.    THE    WAR  AND   SLAVERY 

680.  When  the  war  began,  a  large  part  of  the  North  cared  noth 
ing  about  abolishing  slavery,  or  was  positively  opposed  to  doing 
so  ;  and  the  loyal  Border  States  were  kept  in  the  Union  only  by 
repeated  assurances  from  the  government  that  the  war  was  not 
intended  to  free  slaves.     The  day  after  Bull  Run,  by  107  to  2, 
the  Republican  House  reassured  the  War  Democrats  and  the 
Border  States  to  this  effect. 

In  the  opening  weeks  of  the  struggle,  it  is  true,  General  But 
ler,  at  Fortress  Monroe,  refused  to  deliver  to  an  owner  in  the 
Confederate  army  a  runaway  slave  who  had  escaped  to  the 
Union  lines,  —  on  the  ground  that  the  man  was  "  contraband 


§  682]   LINCOLN'S  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION    571 

of  war  "  (since  he  might  be  made  useful  to  the  enemy).  This 
logic  was  so  sound,  and  the  phrase  so  caught  the  popular 
approval,  that  the  government  did  not  interfere  with  the  Union 
generals  who  chose  thereafter  to  free  "  contrabands  "  seeking 
refuge  within  their  lines.  But  when  General  Fremont,  in  Mis 
souri,  proclaimed  free  the  slaves  of  all  citizens  of  that  State 
who  were  in  arms  for  the  Confederacy,  the  order  was  promptly 
disavowed  by  President  Lincoln.  For  a  year  more,  the  major 
ity  of  the  Union  generals  were  inclined  to  enforce  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Act  as  to  Negroes  who  sought  refuge  with  the  army,  even 
when  the  owners  were  serving  in  the  Confederate  ranks. 

681.  But  it  became  more  and  more  plain  that,  if  the  North  was 
successful,  the  result  must  be  freedom  for  the  Negro;    and,  in 
March,  1862,  Lincoln  recommended  to  Congress  that  the  States 
should  be  invited  to  decree  gradual  emancipation,  and  that,  wher 
ever   this  was  done  the    United  States  should  compensate  the 
owners  and  colonize  the  freed  Negroes. 

This  wise  plan  was  never  adopted.  In  April  Congress 
abolished  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  it  is  true  (with  an 
appropriation  of  $1,000,000  to  compensate  the  owners) ;  and, 
in  June,  it  abolished  slavery  in  the  Territories,  without  com 
pensation.  It  also  passed  resolutions  approving  Lincoln's  plan 
for  the  States.  But  the  President's  earnest  appeals  to  the  Union 
leaders  of  the  Border  to  persuade  their  States  to  act  promptly 
and  secure  compensation  for  their  -slaves  before  it  was  too  late, 
fell  upon  deaf  ears.  They  could  not  yet  believe  his  prophecy 
that  soon  they  would  find  "  bonds  better  property  than  bonds 
men  "  ;  and  the  opportunity  passed. 

682.  Congress  adjourned  for  the  season  on  July  17,  1862. 
Five  days  later,  Lincoln  read  to  his  surprised  Cabinet  the  draft 
of  a  proposed  Emancipation  Proclamation.     This  was  not  to  apply 
to  the  Border  States,  or  to  the  Southern  territory  under  Union 
control     The  only  warrant  in  the  Constitution  for  such  action 
by  the  President  had  to  be  found  in  his  powers  as  Commander 
in  Chief.     The  Proclamation,  in  form,  was  merely  a  war  measure, 
designed  to  weaken  the  enemy. 


572  THE  CIVIL  WAR  [§  683 

At  Seward's  suggestion,  Lincoln  put  the  matter  aside,  to  wait 
for  some  signal  victory  —  of  which  there  had  been  few  for  a 
long  year  —  that  the  Proclamation  might  not  seem  the  act  of 
a  despairing  government.  Two  months  later,  Lee's  retreat 
after  Antietam  (§  668)  furnished  the  appearance  of  a  victory ; 
and  September  23  the  great  Proclamation  was  given  to  the 
world,  —  to  go  into  operation  on  the  first  day  of  the  coming 
year. 

The  Proclamation  made  an  era  in  history.  At  the  moment, 
of  course,  it  was  a  paper  edict,  and  did  not  actually  free  a  slave. 
But  from  that  day  the  war  became  a  war  to  free  slaves;  and,  as 
Union  armies  slowly  conquered  their  way  into  the  South,  thou 
sands,  and  finally  millions,  did  become  free. 

683.  True,  cautious  as  Lincoln  had  been,  it  seemed  for  a  time 
as  though  he  had  moved  too  swiftly  for  Northern  opinion.     The 
fall  elections  gave  anti-war  majorities  in  several  of  the  largest 
Northern  States,  before  strongly  Republican.     In  Ohio  the  Dem 
ocrats  carried  14  congressional  districts  out  of  19 ;  in  Indiana, 
8  out  of  11 ;  in  Illinois,  11  out  of  14.     Says  Professor  A.  B. 
Hart  (Salmon  P.  Chase,  270)  :  "  No  Republican  majority  could 
be  secured  out.  of  the  free  States  ;  but  a  silent  and  drastic  process 
was  applied  by  the  military  in  the  loyal  Border  States,  which 
caused  them  to  furnish  enough  Republican  members  to  make  up 
the  majority  without  which  the  war  must  have  failed."     By 
such  dubious  means,  21  Republican  Representatives  were  se 
cured  from  the  26  Congressional  districts  of  Missouri,  Kentucky, 
and  Maryland. 

684.  And  after  an  interval  of  dismay  the  Nation  rallied. 
Emancipation  was  accepted  as  a  settled  policy;  and,  in  1864, 
Lincoln  was  reflected  triumphantly,  carrying  every  loyal  State 
except  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky.     Before  the  close 
of  the  war,  Maryland,  Missouri,  and  West  Virginia  abolished 
slavery  without  compensation ;  and  "  Reconstruction  govern 
ments  "  (§  699)  in  Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  Virginia  freed  the 
slaves  in  those  parts  of  the  Confederacy  to  which  the  great 
Proclamation  had  not  applied.     Then  "  the  whole  thing  was 


§  684] 


THE   END   OF  SLAVERY 


573 


wound  up," 1  —  all  informalities  legalized,  all  possible  gaps  cov 
ered,  and  the  institution  itself  forever  forbidden,2  —  by  the 
Thirteenth  Amendment  (ratified  in  December,  1865).  It  was 


I  Emancipation  by  President's  procla 

Jan.  1,  1863  r 

Emancipation  by  state  Action          v 

18G3-18G5 

.Emancipation  by  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment,  1S65 


E          X 


^f       % 


this  Amendment  which  freed  the  remaining  slaves  in  Kentucky 
and  Delaware. 

After  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  the  government  began 
to  receive  Negro  regiments  into  the  army.  More  than  fifty  thou 
sand  Black  men  were  enrolled  during  the  remaining  months 
of  the  war;  and  large  numbers  of  others  were  now  used 
as  teamsters  and  for  camp  work  which  had  formerly  rested 
on  Northern  White  soldiers.  Emancipation,  too,  ended  all 
chance  of  the  South  getting  European  aid. 


1  This  was  Lincoln's  expressive  phrase,  in  urging  such  an  amendment  upon 
Congress. 

2  The  Proclamation  had  not  made  slavery  subsequently  illegal.    But  the 
great  Amendment  runs  —  after  the  phrasing  of  the  Northwest  Ordinance 
—  "Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary   servitude  .  .  .  shall  exist  within   the 
United   States  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction."    The  contrast 
between  this  actual  Thirteenth  Amendment  and  the  proposed  "  Thirteenth 
Amendment"  of  1861,  to  guarantee  slavery  forever  against  national  inter 
ference  (§  660),  measures  part  of  the  value  of  the  war. 


574  THE   CIVIL  WAR  [§  685 

V.   THE   WAR   AND   EUROPE 

685.  Both  North  and  South  had  counted  upon  English  sympathy. 

The  North  felt  that  England  must  favor  war  against  slavery,  — 
forgetting,  perhaps,  that  for  more  than  a  year  it  vociferated 
that  it  was  not  warring  upon  slavery,  and  ignoring  also  the  fact 
that  the  mounting  tariff,  closing  the  usual  market  to  English 
manufactures,  was  a  constant  irritation.  The  South  hoped  that 
England  would  break  the  blockade,  to  secure  cotton,  so  as  to 
give  work  to  her  idle  factories  and  her  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  starving  operatives. 

Richard  Cobden  wrote  to  Charles  Sumner  (December  5,  1861):  "You 
know  how  ignorant  we  are  of  your  history,  geography,  etc.  .  .  .  There 
are  two  subjects  upon  which  we  are  unanimous  and  fanatical  .  .  .  per 
sonal  freedom  and  free  trade.  In  your  case  we  see  a  mighty  struggle,  — 
on  one  side  protectionists,  on  the  other  slave  owners.  The  protectionists 
say  they  do  not  seek  to  put  down  slavery  :  the  slave  owners  say  they  do 
want  free  trade.  Need  you  wonder  at  the  confusion  in  John  Bull's 
head  ?  "  Punch  put  the  same  dilemma  :  — 

"  The  South  enslaves  those  fellow  men 

Whom  we  all  love  so  dearly  : 
The  North  keeps  commerce  bound  again, 

Which  touches  us  more  nearly. 
Thus  a  divided  duty  we 

Perceive  in  this  hard  matter  : 
Free  trade  or  sable  brother  free  ? 

0,  won't  we  choose  the  latter  ?  " 

686.  When   President   Lincoln   proclaimed   a  blockade    of 
Southern  ports,  France  and  England  at  once  called  the  atten 
tion  of  their  citizens  to  that  proclamation  and  ordered  a  strict 
neutrality  between  the  two  "  belligerents."    This  word  incensed 
the  North,  which  had  been  claiming    that   the  Confederates 
were  merely  "  rioters."     The  English  and  French  acknowledg 
ment  of  the  belligerency  of  the  South  was  perhaps  made  with 
unnecessary  haste ;  but  it  is  now  generally  agreed  that  such 
action  afforded  no  real  cause  for  complaint.     It  granted  to  the 
Confederates  certain  rights  for  their  privateers  in  English  and 
French  ports,  which,  as  mere  rioters  or  pirates,  they  would  not 


§  688]  AND  ENGLAND  575 

have  enjoyed ;  but  it  was  not  at  all  a  recognition  of  the  Confed 
eracy  as  an  independent  nation. 

687.  There  was  real  danger  of  this  catastrophe  —  which  would 
almost  certainly  have  been  fatal   to  the  Union.     After  Bull 
Run,  English  society  generally  believed  that  the  South  could 
not  be  conquered,  and  was  more  and  more  inclined  to  look 
upon  the  contest  as  one  between  empire  and  self-government. 
"  In  any  case,  since  the  South  must  win  in  the  end,"  said  they, 
"  the  sooner  the  matter  is  ended  the  better,  so  that  our  cotton 
mills  may  turn  their  spindles  again  and  the  danger  of  social  revo 
lution  from  starving  workmen  here  be  removed."     Moreover, 
now  that  it  seemed  safe,  the  governing  aristocracy  of  that  time1 
was  glad  to  show  sympathy  for  the  corresponding  aristocracy 
of  the  South.     Said  Gladstone — not  yet  fully  out.  of  his  Tory 
period  — "  Jefferson  Davis  and  other  leaders  .  .  .  have  made 
an  army ;    they  are  making  a  navy ;   they  have  made  ...  a 
nation."     Still,  so  far  as  any  act  of  the  English  government  is 
concerned,  Mr.  Rhodes  to-day  and  Motley 2  at  the  time  agree 
that  the  North  had  no  cause  whatever  for  offense  until  Novem 
ber,  1861. 

688.  Then  came  an  incident  which  nearly  led  to  war  with 
England.     The  Confederacy  appointed  James  Mason  and  John 
Slidell  commissioners  to  England  and  France,  to  secure  recogni 
tion  and  alliance.     These  gentlemen  ran  the  blockade  to  Havana, 
and  there  took  passage  on  the  English  steamship  Trent.     No 
vember  8,  an  overzealous  captain  of  an  American  man-of-war 
overhauled  the  Trent  and  took  the  two  commissioners  from  her 
decks. 

The  North  burst  into  applause,  though  Lincoln  and  a  few 
other  cool  heads  saw  that  the  government  was  placed  in  the 
wrong  by  this  violation  of  a  right  of  neutral  vessels  for  which 
America  had  so  long  been  ready  to  fight.  England,  too,  had 
always  prided  herself  particularly  on  affording  refuge  to  politi- 

1  This  was  before  the  Reform  Bill  of  1867,  which  first  made  England  a 
democracy.    Cf.  Modern  World,  §§  74~)-750. 

2  One  of  America's  chief  representatives  iii  Europe  at  the  time, 


576  THE   CIVIL  WAR  [§  689 

cal  offenders  from  other  lands ;  and  there  was  now  a  burst  of 
sincere  indignation  in  that  country.  The  government  used  the 
opportunity  to  go  far  in  showing  Southern  sympathies.  Troops 
were  hurried  off  for  Canada,  and  a  peremptory  demand  was 
made  for  the  surrender  of  the  prisoners  and  for  an  apology  — 
softened  though  the  form  of  the  note  was,  from  the  original 
draft,  through  the  influence  of  the  Prince  Consort  and  the 
Queen.  After  unwise  delay,  due  to  fear  of  popular  feeling, 
the  American  government  yielded.  The  people  of  the  North  ac 
quiesced  ;  but  their  bitterness  toward  England  was  intensified. 

689.  In  another  incident  of  more  serious  nature,  the  English 
government  was  deeply  at  fault.  In  the  early  years  of  the  war, 
the  South  succeeded  in  getting  a  few  cruisers  to  sea,  to  prey 
upon  Northern  commerce.  The  most  famous  one  never  entered 
a  Confederate  port.  This  vessel  was  built  in  England.  The 
United  States  minister  there,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  warned 
Lord  E/ussell  of  the  purpose  of  the  vessel  as  it  neared  comple 
tion  ;  but  Russell  was  blandly  incredulous,  and  trusted  to  reports 
of  his  subordinates  and  to  the  assurances  of  the  builders  that 
the  vessel  was  a  peaceful  one.  Thus  the  Alabama  was  allowed 
to  escape  to  sea,  where  she  took  on  her  armament  and  soon 
became  a  terror  to  the  Northern  merchant  marine  —  until  she 
was  overtaken  and  sunk  by  the  Kearsage.  The  North  was  in 
clined  to  believe  that  the  English  government  acted  in  bad 
faith.  But  it  is  now  certain  that  Russell  was  guilty  only  of 
culpable  negligence  —  for  which  his  country  afterward  atoned 
so  far  as  possible  by  paying  the  "  Alabama  claims  "  (§  712  c). 

More  serious  still  would  have  been  the  barely  defeated  project 
of  the  South  to  build  two  iron-clad  rams  in  England,  with 
which  to  break  the  blockade.  These  formidable  vessels  were 
nearly  ready  for  sea;  and  Mr.  Adams'  remonstrances  appar 
ently  had  moved  Lord  Russell  only  to  ineffectual  precautions. 
At  the  last  moment,  Adams  wrote  to  Russell,  "  It  would  be 
superfluous  for  me  to  point  out  to  your  lordship  that  this  is 
war."  But  Russell  had  already  awakened,  and  had  just  given 
effectual  orders  to  seize  the  vessels. 


§  692]  AND   ENGLAND  577 

690.  France,  too,  felt  the  lack  of  cotton,  though  far  less  than 
England,  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III  would  have  liked  to 
see   the   Union  broken  up,  so  as  to  give  him  a  free  hand  in 
Mexico  (§  712  6).    Accordingly,  he  made  specific  proposals  to  the 
English  government  to  join  hands  in  recognizing  the  South  and 
breaking  the  blockade.     These  repeated  overtures  were  always 
refused  by  England.    With  perfect  right,  Cobden  wrote  to  Sumner 
(Morley's  Cobden,  II,  408)  :  "  You  must  not  forget  that  we  have 
been  the  only  obstacle   to  what'  would    have  been  almost   a 
European  recognition  of  the  South." 

Then,  after  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  had  put  the 
North  in  the  true  light  in  the  matter  of  slavery,  English  hos 
tility  was  hushed.  English  workingmeii  thronged  great  public 
meetings  to  voice  loud  enthusiasm  for  the  Union ;  and  Cobden 
wrote  jubilantly  that  any  ministry  which  should  dare  to  com 
mit  any  act  unfriendly  to  America  would  be  instantly  driven 
from  power.1 

691.  The  North,  then,  had  some  cause  to  blame  the  government  and 
the  aristocracy  of  England.    It  had  greater  cause,  not  always  duly  recog 
nized,  for  deep  gratitude  to  the  sound  heart  of  the  English  masses,  who  felt 
dimly  that  the  Union  was  fighting  slavery,  even  while  Unionists  denied 
it  loudly,  and  who  therefore  gave  the  North  a  heroic  support  through 
cruel  privations  —  in  many  ways  as  severe  as  those  borne  by  Americans. 
Says  Von  Hoist  of  this  matter :  "  The  attitude  of  the  English  workingmen  is 
one  of  the  great  deeds  in  the  world's  history."     They  stood  nobly  "by  the 
cause  of  democracy  and  free  labor,  as  their  own  cause ;  and  their  attitude 
was  so  determined  that,  even  though  they  had  no  votes,  their  aristocratic 
government  did  not  venture  to  take  offensive  action  against  America.     It 
should  be  remembered,  too,  that,  in  the  darkest  hour,  there  were  not  want 
ing  English  leaders,  like  Richard  Cobden,  John  Bright,  and  John  Stuart 
Mill,  to  give  enthusiastic  support  to  the  North. 

692.  The  war  cost  more  than  700,000  lives,  —  the  loss  nearly 
3ven  between  North  and  South.     "  The  nation  was  lastingly 
impoverished  by  that  awful  hemorrhage."     As  many  men  more 
had  their  lives  sadly  shortened  or  rendered  miserable  by  disease 

1  On  this  topic,  see  Rhodes,  III,  417-429,  IV,  76-92,  337-394. 


578  THE  CIVIL  WAR  [§  693 

or  wounds.  Other  darkened  lives,  in  homes  from  which  the 
light  had  gone  out,  cannot  be  computed.  Nor  can  we  count 
the  heaviest  cost  of  all,  the  lowering  of  moral  tone,  and  the 
habits  of  vice,  that  came  from  life  in  camp  and  barracks.1  In 
money,  the  war  cost  the  Union  government  about  three  and  a 
half  billions,  nearly  three  billions  of  which  remained  as  a  huge 
national  debt  to  plague  the  next  generation.  The  destruction 


Brady  Photograph. 

WINTER  QUARTERS  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN 
VIRGINIA,  CENTREVILLE,  VA.,  1862. 

of  property,  principally  in  the  /South,  amounted  to  nearly  as 
much  more. 

693.  Still,  this  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure  was  well  worth 
while.  The  war  struck  shackles  from  four  million  men.  It  ended 
forever  the  ideas  of  constitutional  nullification  and  of  peace 
ful  secession.  It  decided,  beyond  further  appeal,  that  the 
United  States  is  a  Nation,  not  a  confederacy.  It  was  the  means 

1  The  women  and  other  non-combatants  of  both  South  and  North  spent 
themselves  nobly  in  hospital  service ;  but  science  did  not  know  how  to  heal  or 
to  protect,  as  it  does  now.  And  the  splendid  work  of  our  many  organizations 
in  the  present  war  (1918)  to  provide  material  comforts  and  mental  recreation 
and  uplift  were  almost  wholly  lacking. 


694] 


COST   AND  GAIN 


579 


whereby  the  more  progressive  portion  of  the  country  had  to  force 
its  advanced  political  thought  and  its  better  labor  system  upon  the 
weaker,  stationary  portion.  It  prevented  the  break-up  of  the 
country  into  squabbling  communities,  to  be  engaged  in  inces 
sant  bickerings  over  trade  and  boundaries,  and  it  preserved  the 
vast  breadth  of  the  continent  for  peace.  It  demonstrated  to 


Brady  Photograph. 

HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC,  AT  BRANDY  STATION, 
APRIL,  1864. 

skeptical  European  aristocracies  that  the  great  Kepublic  was 
not  "  a  bubble,"  but  "  the  most  solid  fact  in  history." 

694.  One  part  of  the  .cost  is  yet  to  be  counted.  April  14, 
1865,  while  the  North  was  still  blazing  with  illuminations  over 
the  surrender  of  Lee's  army,  it  was  plunged  into  gloom  by  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln.  The  great  President  was  murdered  by 
a  crazed  actor,  a  sympathizer  of  the  South.  No  man  was  left 
to  stand  between  North  and  South  as  mediator,  and  to  bind  up 
the  wounds  of  the  Nation  with  great-hearted  pity  and  all-suffic- 


580  THE   CIVIL  WAR  [§  694 

ing  influence,  as  Lincoln  could  have  done.  His  death  was  an 
incomparable  loss  to  the  South.  It  added  fierce  flame  to  the 
spirit  of  vengeance  at  the  North,  and  it  explains  in  part  the 
blunders  and  sins  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  "  Reconstruc 
tion  "  that  followed  the  war. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — The  best  military  story  in  brief  form  is 
Dodge's  Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Civil  War.  Details  are  given  in  an  in 
teresting  series  of  articles,  "  Campaigns  of  the  Civil  War,"  written  by 
generals  of  both  sides,  in  the  Century,  VII-XIII. 

Other  phases  of  the  war,  with  considerable  attention  to  campaigns,  are 
treated  briefly  and  clearly  in  Paxson's  Civil  War  ("Home  University" 
series).  This  is  the  best  one  volume  for  a  student  to  read.  The  great 
history  of  the  period  is  Rhodes'  seven  volumes,  The  History  of  the  United 
States  after  1850.  That  work  should  be  accessible  in  the  larger  schools 
for  reference.  Ida  Tarbell's  Lincoln,  Morse's  Lincoln,  Hart's  Chase,  Lee's 
General  Lee,  and  Davis'  Jefferson  Davis  are  among  the  best  biographies 
for  high  school  use. 

Illustrative  material  is  abundant,  —  such  as  Eggleston's  Rebel's  Recol 
lections  ;  Page's  Among  the  Camps  and  Burial  of  the  Guns;  Frederic's 
Copperhead;  Louisa  Alcott's  Hospital  Sketches;  and  Avary's  Virginia 
Girl  in  the  Civil  War. 


CHAPTER   LIX 
RECONSTRUCTION 

695.  PEACE  brought  new  problems.     The  North  paid  off  its 
million  men  under  arms,  and  sent  them  to  their  homes  at  the 
rate  of  one  or  two  hundred  thousand  a  month.     At  the  close  of 
1865,  only  some  fifty  thousand  remained,  to  garrison  the  South. 
The  disbanded  "  old  soldiers  "  found  place  in  the  industry  of 
the  country  without  disturbing  the  usual  order.     In  part  this 
remarkable  fact  was  due  to  "  free  land."     Many  thousands  who 
saw  no  opening  in  their  old  homes  became  "  homesteaders  "  in 
the  West.     The  government,  too,  sharply  reduced  internal  taxes. 
At  the  same  time,  after  1869,  it  cut  down  the  huge  national  debt 
resolutely  —  so  that  by  1890  half  of  it  had  been  paid,  including 
the  paper  money. 

696.  For  the  wrecked  South,  the  problems  were  infinitely  more 
difficult.     Its  "  old  soldiers"  toiled  homeward  painfully,  mostly 
on  foot,  from  Northern  prison  camps  and  from  surrendered 
armies.     In  some  districts,  remote  from  the  march  of  the  Union 
armies,  there  was  still  abundance  of  food,  with  the  Negroes  at 
work  in  the  fields  ;  but  over  wide  areas  the  returned  soldier 
found  his  home  in  ashes,  his  stock  carried  off,  his  family  scat 
tered,  the  labor  system  utterly  gone.     Many  an  aristocrat,  who 
in  April  had  ruled  a  veteran  regiment,  in  July  was  hunting 
desperately  for  a  mule,1  that  he  might  plow  an  acre  or  two,  to 
raise  food  wherewith  to  keep  his  delicately  nurtured  family 
from  starvation.     The  destruction  of  bridges  and  tearing  up  of 

1  At  Lee's  surrender,  General  Grant,  with  characteristic  good  sense  and 
generosity,  had  told  the  men  to  keep  their  horses,  which,  said  he,  they  would 
need  for  the  spring  work.  This  practice,  followed  by  other  Union  com 
manders,  lightened  in  some  slight  degree  the  suffering  of  the  South. 

581 


582  RECONSTRUCTION,    1862-1876  [§  697 

railroads  left  the  various  districts  isolated ;  and  industrial  life 
had  to  be  built  up  again  from  primitive  conditions.  No  praise 
is  too  great  for  the  quiet  heroism  with  which  the  men  of  the 
South  set  themselves  to  this  crushing  task. 

Before  the  end  of  the  war,  the  Negroes  had  begun  to  flock 
to  the  Federal  camps ;  and,  in  March,  1865,  Congress  had 
found  it  necessary  to  establish  a  "Freedman's  Bureau"  —  to 
feed  these  helpless  multitudes,  to  start  schools  for  them,  and 
to  stand  to  them  in  the  place  of  guardian.  This  organization 
rendered  great  service  ;  but,  in  spite  of  all  it  could  do,  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  ex-slaves  drifted  aimlessly  about  the  country  for 
months.  To  many  of  them,  freedom  meant  chiefly  idleness. 
Others  had  caught  up  a  strange  delusion  that  the  government 
was  going  to  give  to  each  one  "  forty  acres  and  a  mule."  When 
starvation  finally  drove  them  back  to  desultory  work,  the  habits 
they  had  formed  led  to  much  violence  and  crime. 

Political  organization  was  more  completely  wrecked  even  than 
the  industrial  system.  The  military  government  preserved 
order  in  the  South ;  but  civil  liberties  were  in  doubt,  and  civil 
government  was  lacking. 

697.  The  problems  for  the  South  were  (i)  to  find  food  for  its  people  ; 
(2)  to  protect  and  control  and  uplift  the  Negro  and  bring  him  back  into 
the  industrial  system  ;  (3)  to  build  new  State  governments  ;  and  (4)  to 
restore  these  reconstructed  States  to  their  old  relation  to  the  Union.     Un 
fortunately,  in  practice,  the  second  and  third  of  these  problems  had  to  depend 
upon  the  fourth;  and  this  problem  the  victorious  Worth,  after  the  assassi 
nation  of  Lincoln  and  the  return  of  its  emaciated  prisoners,  was  in  no 
mood  to  solve  in  the  best  way.    It  followed  that  for  twelve  years  (1865- 
1877),  though  war  had  ceased,  a  "state  of  war"  continued.     The  South 
was  garrisoned  by  Federal  troops,  and  much  of  it  was  ruled  by  conquering 
generals,  as  though  it  were  a  hostile  country. 

698.  Lincoln  had  held  that  the  "  States  "  could  not  go  out  of 
the  Union,  and  that  their  normal  relations  to  the  Union  were 
merely   interrupted  temporarily  by  illegal  "combinations   of 
individuals."     Even  while  the  war  was  in  progress,  he  had 
tried  to  "  reconstruct "  such  States  as  had  been  occupied  by  the 


§  700]  CONDITIONS   IN  THE  SOUTH  583 

Union  armies.  "  Louisiana,"  said  he,  in  1862,  when  the  Con 
federate  armies  had  been  driven  from  that  State,  "  has  nothing 
to  do  now  but  to  take  her  place  in  the  Union  as  it  was  —  bar 
ring  the  broken  eggs."  In  1863  he  issued  a  proclamation  of 
amnesty  for  all  Southerners  (with  a  few  specified  exceptions) 
who  would  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Union;  and  he 
promised  to  recognize  any  State  government  set  up  by  such 
persons,  —  if  only  they  made  10  per  cent  of  the  number  of 
voters  of  1860. 

699.  But  more  "  radical "  Republicans  began  to  fear  that  the 
"  rebels,"  getting  back  so  easily  into  the  Union,  might  win  con 
trol  of  the  Federal  government  and  undo  the  results  of  the 
war.    So  in  July,  1864,  Congress  passed  the  "  Davis- Wade  bill," 

(1)  to  make  the  process  of  reconstruction  more  difficult,  and 

(2)  to  place  control  of  it  in  Congress.     Lincoln  killed  this  bill 
by  a  pocket  veto ;  and  during  the  summer  recess  of  Congress, 
upon  his  own  responsibility,  he  "  recognized  "  the  "  ten  per  cent 
governments  "  in  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  and  Tennessee.     Later, 
like  action  was  taken  for  Virginia.     But  Representatives  and 
Senators  from  these  States  had  not  been  admitted  by  Congress 
when  Vice  President  Johnson  became  President. 

700.  Andrew  Johnson  was  the  son  of  "  Poor  White  "  parents, 
and  had  learned  to  write  only  after  marriage,  from  his  wife. 
His  youth  was  passed  as  an  apprentice  to  a  tailor,  and  he  after 
ward  followed  that  trade  (§  547).     He  had  great  native  ability 
and  a  rugged  integrity.     Even  in  the  aristocratic  South,  before 
the  war,  he  had  risen  from  his  tailor's  bench  to  the  governor 
ship  of  his  State  and  to  a  seat  in  Congress.     He  had  never 
been  a  Republican ;  but  he  had  been  a  devoted  "  Union  man  " 
in  Tennessee,  and  in  1863-1864  he  had  shown  courage  and 
force  of  character  as  military  governor  there  under  Lincoln. 
The  Republican  National  Convention  of  1864  nominated  him 
for  the  Vice  Presidency  as  a  recognition  of  their  debt  to  the 
"  War  Democrats." 

With  all  his  ability  and  honesty,  Johnson  never  made  good  the 
defects  of  his  early  training.    He  was  unduly  pugnacious,  sadly 


584  RECONSTRUCTION,    1862-1876  [§  701 

lacking  in  tact  and  good  taste,  and  much  given  to  loud  boast 
ing  and  to  abusive  speech.  Always  bitter  toward  opponents, 
he  had  been  particularly  bitter  toward  "rebels,"  so  that  Radical 
Republicans,  though  shocked  at  Lincoln's  death,  felt  that  the 
country  was  now  safer.  As  soon  as  Johnson  had  taken  the 
oath  of  office,  a  committee  of  the  Republican  extremists  called 
upon  him.  Senator  "  Ben  "  Wade  greeted  him  :  "  Johnson,  we 
have  faith  in  you.  By  the  gods,  there  will  be  no  trouble  now 
in  running  the  government." 

701.  Soon,  however,  Johnson  amazed  and  disappointed  his  "Rad 
ical  "  friends  by  taking  up  reconstruction  just  where  Lincoln  had  left 
it  —  but  with  infinitely  less  chance  of  success.     Before  Con 
gress  met  in  December,  he  "  recognized  "  State  governments  in 
all  the  remaining  States  of  the  old  Confederacy,  essentially  on 
Lincoln's  plan. 

In  each  State  a  convention  repealed  the  ordinance  of  secession, 
repudiated  any  share  in  the  Confederate  war  debt,  and  adopted  a 
constitution.  Under  this  constitution,  the  people  chose  a  legis 
lature  and  a  new  governor.  The  legislature  was  required,  be 
fore  the  State  government  was  "recognized,"  to  ratify  the 
Thirteenth  Amendment.  Thereupon  President  Johnson  pro 
claimed  civil  government  fully  restored.  The  legislatures  then 
passed  laws  to  restore  industry,  and  chose  Senators  and 
Representatives  for  Congress  —  who,  however,  were  never  to 
take  their  seats. 

702.  The  North  was  taking  alarm.     In  the  "  reconstructed  " 
States,  the  governors  and  Congressmen  were  ex-Confederate 
generals.     Such  men  were  the  only  natural  leaders  of   their 
people ;   but  the  North   could   not  understand  this  fact,  nor 
could  it  believe  that  these  "  rebel  brigadiers  "  had  accepted 
the  result  of  the  war  in  good  faith. 

More  cause  for  irritation  was  found  in  the  laws  of  the  recon 
structed  legislatures  about  the  freedmen.  In  at  least  three 
States,  a  magistrate  might  arrest  an  idle  Negro  as  a  vagrant, 
fine  him,  and  sell  him  into  service  to  work  out  the  fine.  In 
some  States  a  like  penalty  was  imposed  for  petty  larceny ; 


§  703]  SUMNER  AND  STEVENS  585 

and  a  common  feature  of  these  "Black  Codes"  was  the  pro 
vision  that  a  court  might  "  apprentice  "  Negro  minors. 

The  Southerner  felt  sure  that  the  demoralized  Blacks  could 
not  be  kept  in  order  or  made  self-supporting  without  such 
laws  ;  and  most  of  this  legislation  is  approved  to-day  by  North 
ern  scholars.1  But  at  the  moment  it  seemed  to  the  North  a 
defiant  attempt  to  reenslave  "persons  of  color."  Northern 
opinion,  therefore,  demanded  that  all  the  "  Presidential  recon 
struction  "  should  be  undone,  until  the'  Southern  States  should 
repeal  the  "  Black  laws  "  and  grant  the  franchise  to  the  Blacks, 
—  to  enable  those  wards  of  the  nation  to  protect  themselves.2 

703.  In  Congress,  Senator  Suniner  held  that  the  Southern 
States,  by  secession,  had  "committed  State-suicide"  and  had 
reverted  to  the  position  of  Territories,  subject  of  course  to 
Congressional  regulation.  In  the  lower  House,  Thaddeus  Stev 
ens  insisted  upon  the  more  extreme  view  that  the  South  was  a 
"  conquered  province,"  so  that  its  people  had  no  claim  even  to 
civil  rights.  Suniner  was  an  unselfish  idealist,  but  unpractical 
and  bigoted,  with  the  one  idea  of  doing  justice  to  the  Negro. 
Stevens  was  an  unscrupulous  politician  and  a  vindictive  parti 
san,  determined  to  entrench  Republican  rule  by  Negro  majori 
ties  in  Southern  States,  and  not  averse  incidentally  to  punishing 
"  rebels."  The  spirit  of  reckless  retribution  which  stained  the 
National  legislation  of  the  next  months  was  due  mainly  to  his 


1  "  This  legislation,  far  from  embodying  any  spirit  of  defiance  towards  the 
North  .  .  .  was  in  the  main  a  conscientious  and  straightforward  attempt  to 
bring  some  sort  of  order  out  of  the  social  and  economic  chaos."  —  Dunning, 
Reconstruction  ("  American  Nation"  series) ,  57-58.     "  The  trend  of  legislation 
.  .  .  was  distinctly  favorable  to  the  Negro."  —Rhodes,  VI,  27. 

2  Lincoln  had  advised  his  reconstructed  governments  that  they  would  do 
well  to  give  the  franchise  to  Negroes  who  had  fought  for  the  Union  or  who 
could  pass  an  educational  test ;  and  President  Johnson  repeatedly  urged  a 
like  policy.    But  no  one  of  the  reconstructed  legislatures  paid  attention  to 
such  counsel.    For  this  there  is  little  wonder.     Only  six  Northern  States  al 
lowed  the  Negro  to  vote  at  this  time,  and  in  this  same  year  (1865),  State  con 
ventions  in  Wisconsin,  Connecticut,   and  Minnesota  refused  the  privilege. 
Again,  in  1867-1868,  Minnesota,  Michigan,  Ohio,  and  Kansas,  by  popular  vote, 
rejected  constitutional  amendments  providing  for  Negro  suffrage. 


586  RECONSTRUCTION,    1862-1876  .[§  704 

harsh  influence.  And  more  and  more,  as  the  contest  pro 
gressed,  the  Republican  majority  in  Congress  was  actuated 
also  by  a  desire  to  humiliate  the  President. 

At  the  first  roll  call  of  the  new  Congress,  the  clerk,  under 
Stevens'  direction,  omitted  the  reconstructed  States,  so  that 
their  representatives  were  not  recognized.  Later,  the  question 
of  the  readmission  of  those  States  to  the  Union  was  referred 
to  a  joint  committee  of  the  two  Houses,  —  which  then  held 
the  matter  skillfully  in  abeyance.  Meantime,  over  the  Presi 
dent's  veto,  a  Civil  Rights  Bill  placed  the  civil  equality  of  the 
Negro  directly  under  the  protection  of  the  Federal  courts  — 
rather  than  of  the  State  courts.  Then,  to  make  the  same 
principle  still  more  secure,  Congress  submitted  to  the  States 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment. 

This  measure  held  out  to  the  South  an  inducement  to  give 
the  suffrage  to  the  Negro  —  in  the  provision  that  if  a  State 
denied  the  suffrage  to  any  citizens,  its  representation  in  Con 
gress  might  be  correspondingly  reduced.  But  it  also  disquali 
fied  from  office  large  classes  of  leading  Southerners  such  as 
made  up  the  reconstructed  governments.  Accordingly  it  was 
promptly  rejected  by  Southern  legislatures. 

704.  Congress  then  (March  2,  1867)  began  its  system  of 
Reconstruction.  It  divided  the  old  Confederacy  (except  Ten 
nessee,  which  had  ratified  the  Amendment)  into  Jive  military 
districts.  Each  district  was  placed  under  an  army  general,  who, 
in  practice,  set  aside  at  will  the  laws  of  the  existing  Southern 
legislatures,  overruled  the  decisions  of  courts,  appointed  munici 
pal  authorities,  and  aimed  in  general  to  exercise  a  minute 
paternal  despotism.  This  military  rule  was  to  continue  until 
the  following  process  should  be  complete :  (1)  Each  commander 
was  to  register  the  voters  in  each  State  in  his  district,  including 
the  Negroes  and  excluding  certain  large  classes  of  leading  ex- 
Confederates.  (2)  State  conventions,  chosen  by  these  voters, 
must  ratify  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  and  (3)  adopt  new 
State  constitutions,  —  which  must  be  satisfactory  to  Congress 
and  which,  in  particular,  must  provide  for  future  Negro  suffrage. 


§  707]          CARPETBAGGERS  AND  SCALAWAGS  587 

(4)  These  constitutions  must  then  be  ratified  by  the  registered 
voters.  (5)  A  state  which  complied  with  these  requirements 
might  be  readmitted  to  the  Union  by  Congress. 

By  June,  1868,  six  States  had  been  reconstructed  on  this 
basis.  Virginia,  Mississippi,  Georgia,  and  Texas  preferred 
military  rule  for  three  years  more.  Meantime  Congress  added 
the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  requirements  for  readmission. 

705.  Annoyed  by  Johnson's  veto  messages,  Congress  now 
determined  to  impeach  him.      Johnson  had   been   foolish   and 
coarse ;   but  he  had  administered  his  high  office  with   scru 
pulous  fidelity,  and   had  enforced  vigorously  even  the  laws 
he  most  disapproved.     The  impeachment  was  a  frank  attempt 
to  depose  him  because  he  differed  ivith  the  majority  of  Congress. 
It  failed  (May,  1868)  for  want  of  one  vote  ;  but  every  Northern 
Senator  who  voted  against  this  partisan  degradation  of  the 
presidency  lost  his  seat  at  the  first  subsequent  election.     The 
North  was  even  more  mad  than  Congress. 

706.  A  few  months  later,  the  Republicans  elected  General  Grant 
to  the  Presidency  in  an  enthusiastic  campaign,  by  214  electoral 
votes  to  80.     Still  in  the  popular  vote,  Grant  had  a  majority 
of  only  300,000  out  of  6,000,000.     Part  of  the  Southern  States, 
too,  were  still  unreconstructed,  and  had  no  vote;   while  the 
others  were  controlled  by*Republican  "  carpetbaggers  "  (below). 

707.  Meantime,  the  atrocious  Reconstruction  Acts  had  been 
followed  by  anarchy  and  misgovernment  in  the  South.     In  a  few 
weeks,  thousands  of  Northern  adventurers,  drawn  by  scent  of 
plunder,  had  thronged  thither  to  exploit  the  ignorant  Negro 
vote  and  to  organize  it  as  the  Republican  party.1     These  car 
petbaggers,  joined   by  a  few   even  more   detested  scalaivags 
(Southern  \Vhites,  largely  of  the  former  overseer  class),  with 
grossly  ignorant  ex-slaves,  made  up  the  bulk  of  the  constitu 
tional  conventions  and  of  the  State  legislatures  that  followed. 


1  A  favorite  device,  when  one  was  needed,  was  to  show  the  illiterate  and 
credulous  Negroes  an  "order"  purporting  to  be  signed  by  General  Grant, 
commanding  them  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket. 


588  RECONSTRUCTION  [§  708 

Says  Woodrow  Wilson,  "  A  carnival  of  public  crime  set  in 
under  the  forms  of  law."  Irresponsible  or  rascally  legislatures 
ruined  the  war-impoverished  South  over  again  by  stupendous 
taxes,  bearing  mainly  on  the  property  of  the  disfranchised  Whites. 
In  Mississippi  a  fifth  of  the  total  area  of  the  State  was  sold 
for  unpaid  taxes.  In  New  Orleans  the  rate  of  taxation  rose 
to  6  per  cent,  which  meant  confiscation.  Enormous  /State  debts, 
too,  were  piled  up,  to  burden  the  future.  Crime  against  indi 
viduals  was  rampant ;  and  vicious  Negroes  heaped  indignities 
upon  former  masters.  History  has  no  parallel  to  this  legal 
revolution  whereby  a  civilized  society  was  subjected  to  ruin 
and  insult  by  an  ignorant  barbarism  led  by  brutal  and  greedy 
renegades.  Says  Rhodes  (History,  VI,  35) :  "  Stevens'  Recon 
struction  Acts,  ostensibly  in  the  interests  of  freedom,  were  an 
attack  on  Civilization." 

708.  The  Southern  Whites,  it  should  have  been  foreseen, 
would  soon  overthrow  this  vile  supremacy,  or  perish.    Peaceful 
and  legal  means  for  preserving  White  civilization  there  were 
none ;  open  rebellion  against  Negro  domination,  while  it  was 
supported  by  Federal  bayonets,  was  equally  impossible ;  and 
so  the  Whites  had  recourse  to  the  only  available  methods,  — 
which  were  very  deplorable  ones.1     Secret  Ku-Klux-Klans  in 
timidated  Negro  majorities  by  mysterious  warnings ;  and  mid 
night  patrols  of  white-robed,  masked  horsemen  flogged  many 
men  and  hanged  some.     By  the  close  of  1870,  the  North  in 
law  had  imposed  its  system  of  reconstruction  upon  the  South  : 
in  actual  fact,  the  South  was  rapidly  carrying  out  a  counter 
revolution. 

709.  In  1872  public  feeling  at  the  North  compelled  Congress 
to  restore  political  rights  to  the  ex-Confederates  except  for  a 
few  leaders,  and  the  union  of  the  Whites  in  one  party  gave 
them  a  majority  in  most  States  over  the  Negroes.     Thereafter 


1  Says  William  Garrett  Brown  (Lower  South),  "  Never  before  had  an  end 
so  clearly  worth  fighting  for  been  so  clearly  unattainable  by  any  good 
means." 


§  710]  KU-KLUX-KLANS  589 

they  used  little  violence;  but  they  continued  to  exclude  most 
Negroes  from  the  polls  by  threats  of  non-employment  or  by  per 
suasion  or  by  vague  intimidation. 

For  a  while,  the  Federal  government  secured  the  victory 
of  Carpetbag  State  governments  by  giving  them  the  use  of 
Federal  troops  at  the  elections ;  but  this  process  became  in 
creasingly  distasteful  to  President  Grant  and  to  the  country. 
By  1875,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  Georgia,  and  North  Carolina  had 
reverted  to  White  Rule;  and  the  other  Southern  States  did  so 
in  the  election  of  1876  or  as  a  result  of  the  settlement  following 
that  election  (§  719). 

710.  Throughout  "  Eeconstruction,"  Congress  showed  a  high 
handed  determination  to  override  the  Judiciary,  as  it  overrode  the 
Executive,  whenever  necessary  to  carry  its  point.  It  had  sus 
pended  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  in  the  North  during  the 
war,  and  had  authorized  the  punishment  of  suspected  "  rebel 
sympathizers  "  by  military  courts.  While  the  war  lasted,  the 
Federal  judiciary  had  been  unwilling  to  interfere  with  these 
courts  martial,  dangerous  as  they  were  to  private  liberty  ;  but 
in  1866  the  Supreme  Court  did  at  last  declare  that  all  such 
military  commissions  for  the  trial  of  citizens,  in  districts  where 
the  ordinary  courts  were  open,  had  been  unconstitutional. 

The  "Radical"  majority  in  Congress  feared  that  the  Court 
would  go  on  to  upset  their  program  for  military  rule  in  the 
South,  and  raved  wildly  against  the  decision.  Stevens  at 
once  introduced  a  bill  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  Court  to 
set  aside  laws  of  Congress  thereafter  except  by  a  unanimous  vote. 
The  bill  was  not  pressed  to  a  vote,  but  was  held  over  the 
Judiciary  as  a  threat.  The  Court,  accordingly,  grew  cautious. 
When  President  Johnson's  reconstructed  State  governments 
appealed  to  it  for  protection  against  the  military  rule  set  over 
them  by  the  Reconstruction  Acts,  it  declared  it  had  no  juris 
diction  in  such  "  political  cases."  At  a  later  period,  however, 
in  the  famous  "  Slaughter  House  cases  "  of  1883,  it  did  take 
from  the  Negroes  the  security  for  civil  equality  which  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  had  been  intended  to  give  them.  Since  that  time  the 


590  THE  RECONSTRUCTION  PERIOD  [§  711 

social  relations  of  the  Blacks  have  been  regulated  by  State 
governments.     (Cf.  §  720.) 

711.  The  "Legal  Tender  decisions"  showed  another  way  in 
which  the  Supreme  Court  might  be  subject  to  control  in  times  of 
staong  popular  feeling.     The  Legal  Tender  Act  of  1862  (§  673) 
had  made  "  greenbacks  "  lawful  pay  even  for  debts  contracted  be 
fore  the  passage  of  the  law.    This  provision  of  the  law  the  Court 
declared  unconstitutional,  February  7,  1870.      Chief  Justice 
Chase,  who  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  devised  the  law, 
wrote  the  decision ;  and  the  vote  stood  four  to  three. 

But  one  Justice  had  died  just  before,  and  Congress  had  pro 
vided  for  one  additional  new  member.  President  Grant  now 
filled  both  places  —  the  day  this  .decision  was  handed  down. 
A  new  case  was  promptly  brought  before  the  new  Court.  The 
new  appointees  voted  with  the  former  minority,  and  the  law 
was  upheld,  Jive  to  four. 

Loud  complaint  was  made  —  even  by  the  Chief  Justice  — 
that  the  President  and  Senate  had  "  packed  the  Court "  to 
secure  this  reversal.  In  the  grossest  form,  this  accusation 
was  certainly  untrue.  The  nominations  had  been  settled  upon 
before  the  first  decision  was  made  public.  But  the  country 
was  sharply  divided  upon  the  issue,  and  the  stand  of  the  nom 
inees  on  the  matter  was  known  before  they  were  confirmed. 
The  rising  labor  parties  charged  that  the  appointment  was 
influenced,  in  part  at  least,  by  great  corporations  whose  long- 
term  bonds,  about  to  expire,  would  have  had  to  be  paid  in  gold 
under  the  first  decision,  but  which  they  now  paid  in  the  de 
preciated  greenbacks  —  gaining  millions  for  corporation  coffers. 

712.  The  Reconstruction  period  saw  three  important  inci 
dents  connected  with  foreign  relations. 

a.  In  Johnson's  administration,  the  United  States  bought 
from   Russia,   for    $7,200,000,  the  immensely  rich   realm   of 
Alaska  —  then  valued  mainly  for  its  furs. 

b.  The    same    administration    victoriously   vindicated    the 
Monroe   Doctrine.      During   our   war,   England,  France,   and 
Spain  had  united  in  a  military  "  demonstration,'7  to  secure  from 


§712]  THE   ALABAMA  ARBITRATION  591 

Mexico  the  payment  of  debts  due  their  citizens.  England  and 
Spain  soon  withdrew  from  the  movement  because  it  became 
plain  that  Napoleon  III  of  France  was  aiming  at  much  more 
than  collection  of  debts.  Then  Napoleon  established  Maxi 
milian,  an  Austrian  Archduke,  as  Emperor  of  Mexico,  and 
maintained  him  there  by  a  French  army,  in  spite  of  vigorous 
protests  from  Washington. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  however,  American  troops  were 
massed  on  the  Rio  Grande ;  and  Napoleon  withdrew  his  army. 
Then  the  "  Emperor "  was  captured  and  shot  by  the  Mexican 
Republicans  (1867). 

c.  Much  bitterness  was  still  felt  toward  England  for  her 
government's  conduct  in  the  matter  of  the  Alabama  (§  689). 
But  in  1867  a  franchise  reform  in  that  country  put  power  at 
last  in  the  hands  of  the  workinginen,  and  a  new  British  min 
istry  showed  a  desire  for  a  fair  settlement  between  the  two 
nations.  In  the  Treaty  of  Washington  (1871),  England  apolo 
gized  gracefully  for  any  remissness  on  her  part  in  permitting 
the  Confederate  cruiser  to  escape,  and  the  question  of  liability 
for  damages  was  submitted  to  arbitration. 

A  Tribunal  of  Arbitration  met  at  Geneva,  —  one  member 
appointed  by  each  of  the  five  governments,  the  United  States, 
England,  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  Brazil.  At  first  the  American 
government  claimed  huge  "  indirect  damages  "  —  for  the  cost 
of  pursuing  the  Alabama,  the  longer  continuance  of  the  war, 
and  the  increased  rates  of  insurance  on  merchant  shipping. 
The  Tribunal  threw  out  these  claims ;  but  it  decided  that 
England  had  not  shown  "due  diligence"  in  preventing  the 
sailing  of  the  Alabama,  and  that  she  was  therefore  responsible 
for  all  damages  to  American  commerce  committed  directly  by 
that  privateer.  England  paid  to  the  United  States  the  award 
of  $15,500,000,  to  be  distributed  by  us  to  the  owners  of  de 
stroyed  property.  The  amount  proved  to  be  excessive,  since 
claimants  for  much  of  it  could  never  be  found ;  but  the  settle 
ment  was  honorable  to  both  nations,  and  it  made  the  greatest 
victory  up  to  that  time  for  the  principle  of  arbitration. 


592  THE  RECONSTRUCTION  PERIOD  [§  712 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  The  best  one-volume  account  of  Recon 
struction  is  Dunning1  s  Reconstruction  ("American  Nation")  ;  but  that 
volUme  is  rather  long,  and  in  many  places,  rather  difficult,  for  the  average 
high  school  senior.  A  briefer  recent  account  may  be  found  in  the  first 
eighty  pages  of  Haworth's  Reconstruction  and  Union  ("  Home  University 
Library  ")  or  in  the  last  sixty  of  Dodd's  Expansion  and  Conflict.  Rhodes' 
great  history  (vols.  V-VII)  remains  the  standard  authority.  Desirable 
biographies  for  high  school  use  are  Woodburn's  Thaddeus  Stevens,  or 
McCall's  Thaddeus  Stevens,  and  Hart's  Chase,  319-435  (especially  good 
for  the  matter  of  the  Judiciary). 

The  best  fiction,  for  the  Southern  side,  is  Page's  Red  Rock,  which  every 
Northern  student  should  read.  Mention  should  be  made  also  of  Tourgee's. 
FooVs  Errand,  Cable's  John  March,  and  Octave  Thanet's  Expiation. 


CHAPTER   LX 

THE   CLOSE   OF  AN   ERA 

713.  In  1872  the  Republicans  began  to  divide  on  the  ques 
tion  of  military  rule  in  the  South.     The  conviction  was  growing 
that  the  North  needed  its  energies  at  home.       A  "Liberal 
Republican"  Convention  nominated   Horace   Oreeley  for  the 
presidency,  OIL  a  platform  calling  for  civil-service  reform  and 
for  leaving  the  South  to  solve  its  own  problems.     The  Demo 
crats  accepted  program  and  candidate  ;  but  they  felt  no  enthu 
siasm  for  Greeley,   a   life-long,   violent  opponent, — .and  the 
"  regular  "  Republicans  reflected  Grant  triumphantly. 

714.  His  second  term,  however^  proved  a  period  of  humilia 
tion  for  the  simple-minded  soldier.     His  confidence  was  abused 
basely  by  political   "  friends,"  and  he  showed  himself  a  babe 
in  their  unscrupulous  hands.     The  public  service  had  become 
honeycombed  with  corruption.     In  1875  Benjamin  H.  Bristow, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  unearthed  extensive  frauds  whereby 
high  officials  had  permitted  a  "Whisky  Ring"  to  cheat  the 
government  of  millions  of  the  internal  revenue.     Babcock,  the 
President's  private  secretary,  was  deeply  implicated,  and  Grant 
showed  an  ill-advised  eagerness  to  save  him  from  prosecution, 
while  he   allowed  the  friends  of    the  convicted  criminals  to 
drive   Bristow    from   office.      Grant,   himself,   on  a  visit    to 
St.  Louis,  had  been  lavishly  entertained  by  a  leading  member 
of  the  "  ring,"  and  had  even  accepted  from  him  a  gift  of  a  fine 
span  of  horses. 

In  1876  Belknap,  Secretary  of  War,  was  found  to  have 
accepted  bribes,  year  after  year,  for  appointments  to  office 
in  the  department  of  Indian  affairs.  Of  course  the  officials 
who  paid  the  bribes  had  enriched  themselves  by  robbing  the 
Indians.  The  Democratic  House  (see  elections  of  1874,  below) 


594  THE   CLOSE   OF  RECONSTRUCTION  [§  715 

began  to  impeach  Belknap,  but  the  President  permitted  him  to 
escape  punishment  by  hastily  accepting  his  resignation.  Low, 
however,  as  the  honor  of  the  government  had  fallen,  no  one 
imputed  personal  dishonesty  to  the  President. 

715.  The  main  proof  of  corruption  in  Congress  was  connected 
with  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad.     For  ten  years  before  the 
Civil  War,  ever  since  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  the 
country  had  discussed  the  building  of  a  transcontinental  rail 
way.     In  1862  Congress  gave  right  of  way  through  the  Terri 
tories  from  Omaha  to  California,  to  a  corporation  known  as 
the  Union  Pacific,  —  with  a  grant  also  of  twenty  square  miles  of 
land  along  each  mile  of  road,  and  a  "  loan "  of  $  50,000,000. 
In  1869  tne  two  lines,  building  from  the  east  and  from  the 
west,  met  in  Utah. 

The  nation  had  been  so  dazzled  by  the  romance  of  carrying 
an  iron  road  from  ocean  to  ocean  through  two  thousand  miles 
of  "  desert "  that  it  had-  been  exceedingly  careless  of  its  own 
interests.  The  fifty  million  dollar  loan  was  inadequately 
secured,  and  never  repaid.  That  sum,  with  the  land  grants, 
more  than  built  the  road  —  which,  however,  was  left  altogether 
in  private  hands. 

The  only  new  feature  about  this  was  the  huge  size  of  the  grant.  As 
early  as  1850,  Congress  gave  Illinois  3,000,000  acres  from  the  Public 
Domain  within  that  State  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  The  State 
legislature  then  transferred  the  grant,  as  was  intended,  to  the  company 
building  the  road.  Immense  grants  of  like  character  were  made  to  other 
Western  States.  In  1856  twenty  million  acres  were  given  away.  Mild 
attempts  by  the  legislatures  and  by  Congress  to  couple  the  gifts  with  con 
ditions  to  secure  the  public  interest  achieved  little  success.  After  the 
war,  still  more  immense  gifts  were  made,  by  Congress  directly,  from  the 
Domain  in  the  Territories.  In  the  shaded  part  of  the  map  opposite,  every 
alternate  section  was  granted  for  the  construction  of  some  road.  (Texas 
had  no  National  land  within  it ;  and  none  was  granted  in  Oklahoma, 
then  Indian  Territory.)  The  huge  State  grants  are  not  shown  on  this 
map. 

716.  Worse  than  this  waste  of  the  people's  property  was  a 
steal  within  the  Company.     A  group  of  leading  stockholders  of 


§717] 


CREDIT  MOBILIER  SCANDAL 


595 


the  Union  Pacific  formed  themselves  into  an  "  inside  "  company 
known  as  the  Credit  Mobilier.  Then,  as  stockholders  of  the  Un 
ion  Pacific,  they  looted  that  company  by  voting  their  Credit 
Mobilier  extravagant  sums  for  constructing  the  road.  This  was 


the  first  notorious  use  of  a  device  that  the  coming  decades 
were  to  make  disgracefully  familiar. 

•  717.  And  worse  than  this  steal  by  private  individuals  was 
the  accompanying  corruption  in  Congress.  The  Credit  Mobilier 
feared  that  its  robbery  might  be  stopped  by  Congressional 
action.  To  prevent  that,  it  gave  shares  of  its  highly  profitable 
stock,  or  sold  them  far  below  market  rates,  to  Congressmen. 
Oakes  Ames,  the  agent  of  the  Company,  wrote  his  associates 
that  he  had  placed  the  shares  "  where  they  will  do  us  the  most 
good."  The  matter  leaked  out ;  and  Congress  had  to  "  investi 
gate."  It  censured  two  members,  against  whom  it  found  abso 
lute  proof  of  corruption,  and  excused  from  punishment  various 
others,  smirched  in  the  transaction,  on  the  peculiar  ground 
that  they  had  not  understood  that  Ames  meant  to  corrupt  them. 


596  THE   CLOSE   OF  RECONSTRUCTION  [§  718 

Still  others,  including  the  Vice  President,  were  left  under  grave 
suspicion. 

Even  after  this,  Congress  proved  reckless  enough  to  pass  the 
"salary  grab."  That  scandalous  Act  raised  the  pay  of  all 
members  and  applied  to  the  past  two  years.  This  was  more  than 
the  country  could  stomach.  Many  members  who  voted  for 
the  "  back  pay  "  never  had  a  chance  to  draw  any  future  pay. 

718.  The  people  of  the  North  were  growing  weary  of  mili 
tary  rule  in  the  South,  and  they  were  sickened  by  the  corrup 
tion  in  high  places  in  the  National  government.  The  elections 
of  '74  gave  the  Democrats  a  large  majority  in  the  lower  House 
of  Congress,  and  placed  them  in  control  in  several  Northern 
State  governments. 

Then  the  presidential  election  of  1876  closed  the  long  era  of 
political  reconstruction.  The  Democrats  nominated  Samuel  J. 
Tilden  of  New  York,  a  prominent  reformer,  and  adopted  a 
. "  reform  "  platform.  The  Republicans  named  as  their  candi 
date  Rutherford  B.  Hayes l  of  Ohio,  and  appealed  chiefly  to 
war-time  prejudices  by  a  vigorous  "  waving  of  the  bloody  shirt." 

On  the  morning  after  election,  papers  of  both  parties  an 
nounced  a  Democratic  victory.  That  party  had  safely  carried 
every  "doubtful"  Northern  State  (New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Connecticut,  and  Indiana),  and,  on  the  face  of  the  returns,  they 
had  majorities  in  every  Southern  State.  They  claimed  204 
electoral  votes  to  165. 

But  in  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  South  Carolina,  carpetbagger 
governments,  hedged  by  Federal  bayonets,  would  have  the  can 
vassing  of  the  returns,  and  they  were  promptly  urged  by  des- 

1  James  G.  Elaine,  for  many  years  preceding  1874  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
had  been  a  leading  candidate.  Shortly  before  the  convention  met,  however, 
he  was  accused  of  complicity  in  the  Credit  Mobilier  scandal.  The  evidence 
was  supposed  to  be  contained  in  letters  from  Elaine  to  a  certain  Mulligan.  On 
pretense  of  examining  these  letters,  Elaine  got  hold  of  them  and  never  per 
mitted  them  to  pass  again  from  his  hands.  He  read  parts  from  them  in  a 
dramatic  "justification"  of  himself  before  the  House;  but  the  "Mulligan 
Letters"  made  this  "magnetic"  statesman  thereafter  an  impossible  candi 
date  for  National  favor. 


§719]      ELECTION   OF   1876:   "EIGHT  TO  SEVEN "      597 

perate  Republican  politicians  in  the  North  to  secure  a  favorable 
count.  The  carpetbagger  officials  proved  easily  equal  to  the 
emergency.  On  the  alleged  ground  of  fraud  and  of  intimida 
tion  to  Negro  voters,  they  threw  out  the  vote  of  enough  dis 
tricts  to  declare  the  Republican  electors  chosen.1  In  Oregon 
one  of  the  Republican  electors  who  had  been  chosen  proved  to 
be  a  postmaster ;  but  the  Constitution  declares  Federal  officials 
ineligible  to  such  position.  In  these  four  States  two  sets  of 
electors  secured  credentials  from  rival  State  governments  or 
conflicting  officials,  and  double  sets  of  votes  were  sent  to  Wash 
ington.  Twenty  votes  were  in  dispute.  Hayes  could  not  be 
elected  without  every  one  of  them.  Any  one  of  them  would  elect 
Tilden. 

719.  How  should  it  be  decided  which  sets  were  valid  ?  The 
Constitution  was  unhappily  vague.  Congress  could  not  easily 
agree  upon  a  law,  because  the  lower  House  was  Democratic 
and  the  Senate  Republican.  Injudicious  leadership  might 
easily  have  plunged  the  Nation  again  into  civil  war,  which  this 
time  would  not  have  been  sectional.  Finally  (January,  1877), 
Congress  created  the  famous  Electoral  Commission  of  fifteen,  to 
pass  upon  the  disputes,  —  five  members  chosen  by  the  House? 
five  by  the  Senate,  and  five  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  of 
which  last  five  three  were  Republicans.  After  many  painful 
weeks,  by  a  strict  party  vote,  the  Commission  decided  every  dis 
puted  point  in  favor  of  the  Republicans.  The  end  was  reached 
only  two  days  before  the  date  for  the  inauguration  of  the  new 
President. 

The  "  eight  to  seven  "  decisions  became  a  by-word  in  politics, 
and  they  are  generally  regarded  as  proof  that  even  members 

1  Louisiana  was  perhaps  the  most  trying  case.  There  the  Democratic  ticket 
had  a  majority  of  more  than  6000,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  carpetbagger 
officials  freely  employed  "  perjury,  forgery,  and  shameless  manipulation  of  the 
returns  before  publication  "  (Dunning,  Reconstruction,  316).  But  the  canvass 
ing  board  "threw  out  returns  on  vague  rumor  and  unsupported  assertion," 
and  "ignored  technical  irregularities  in  returns  that  favored  Republicans, 
but  used  the  same  defects  as  a  ground  for  rejecting  returns  that  favored  the 
Democrats."  Such  methods  manufactured  a  Republican  majority  of  3500. 


598  THE   "  NEGRO  PROBLEM  "  [§  720 

of  the  Supreme  Court  were  controlled  by  partisan  bias.  But 
this  discreditable  result  was  more  than  offset  by  the  notable 
spectacle  of  half  a  nation  submitting  quietly,  even  in  time  of 
intense  party  feeling,  to  a  decision  that  had  the  form  of  law. 
Rarely,  in  any  country,  has  free  government  been  subjected  to 
such  a  strain  —  or  withstood  one  so  triumphantly. 

After  all,  the  South  reaped  the  fruits  of  victory.  President 
Hayes  at  once  removed  the  Federal  garrisons.  Then  the  State 
governments  to  which  his  election  had  been  due  immediately 
vanished,  and  the  South  was  left  to  work  out  its  salvation  for  itself 
as  best  it  could. 

720.  Slavery  and  the  blunders  of  Reconstruction  have  left 
America  burdened  with  a  frightful  race  problem.  Southern 
Whites  have  continued  to  agree  in  the  necessity  for  keeping 
the  Negro  from  the  polls,  —  at  least  wherever  his  vote  might 
be  a  real  factor,  —  and  that  race  remains  (1917)  practically 
destitute  of  political  privilege.  To  keep  it  so,  there  has  been 
created  and  preserved  for  a  third  of  a  century  "  the  Solid 
South"  in  close  alliance  with  the  Democratic  party,  without 
the  possibility  of  natural  and  wholesome  division  upon  other 
issues. 

In  1890  the  Republicans  in  Congress  attempted  to  restore 
Federal  supervision  of  congressional  and  presidential  elections. 
The  "  Lodge  Force  Bill "  failed,  partly  from  the  opposition  of 
Northern  capital  invested  now  in  Southern  manufactures 
(§  727).  But  the  South  took  warning,  and  began  to  protect 
its  policy  by  the  forms  of  constitutional  right.  The  States 
adopted  property  qualifications  and  educational  tests  for  the 
franchise.1  These  qualifications,  in  practice,  are  invoked  only 
against  the  Negro,  not  against  the  illiterate  White.  Sometimes 
the  latter  is  protected  further  by  the  notorious  "  Grandfather 


1  Mississippi  led  off  (1890)  by  prescribing  payment  of  a  poll  tax  and  the 
ability  to  read  or  understand  the  Constitution.  Only  37,000  of  the  147,000 
adult  Negro  males  could  read ;  few  of  these  paid  the  tax;  and  White  officials 
decide  whether  a  would-be  voter  understands  the  Constitution;  only  8615 
Negroes  registered  for  the  next  election. 


§  721]  AND   "  RACE   INTEGRITY  "  599 

clause,"  expressly  declaring  that  the  restrictions  shall  not 
exclude  any  one  who  could  vote  prior  to  January  1,  1861,  or 
who  is  the  son  or  grandson  of  such  voter.  An  extreme  pro 
vision  of  this  sort  in  Oklahoma  has  just  been  declared  uncon 
stitutional  by  the  Federal  Courts  (March,  1916). 

721.  On  the  side  of  civil  equality,  as  we  have  noted,  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment  is  even  more  a  dead  letter.  Just  at  the  close 
of  Reconstruction  (in  1875),  Congress  made  a  final  attempt  to 
secure  for  Negroes  the  same  accommodations  as  for  Whites  in 
hotels,  railways,  and  theaters.  In  1883,  however,  the  Supreme 
Court  declared  the  law  unconstitutional  when  in  conflict  with 
State  authority  (§  710).  Accordingly,  the  two  races  in  the 
South  live  without  social  mingling. 

The  special  cry  of  the  South  is  "race  integrity."  Inter 
marriage,  it  is  insisted,  shall  not  be  permitted.  Therefore 
there  must  be  no  social  intercourse  on  terms  of  equality. 
Many  leaders  of  the  Negro  race,  too,  like  the  late  Booker 
Washington  of  Tuskegee  and  his  successor,  Charles  Moten, 
desire  social  segregation  for  the  present,  —  but  with  a  dif 
ference.  To  the  White,  Negro  segregation  means  Negro  in 
feriority.  To  these  Negro  leaders  separate  cars  and  separate 
schools  for  their  people  mean  a  better  chance  for  the  Negro  to 
"  find  himself "  ;  but  they  insist  that  the  "  Jim  Crow  car " 
shall  be  cared  for  and  equipped  as  well  as  the  car  for  Whites 
who  pay  the  same  rates,  and  that  Negro  schools  shall  receive 
their  proportion  of  State  funds  and  attention.  As  yet,  this 
goal  remains  far  distant. 

Southern  States  authorize  cities  to  shut  out  Negro  homes  from  residen 
tial  districts  which  they  choose  to  reserve  for  Whites.  The.Supreme  Court 
has  just  declared  these  laws  void  (November,  1917)  —  but  on  the  ground 
that  the  ( White}  owner  must  not  be  deprived  by  the  State  of  his  right  to  sell 
his  property  in  such  districts  in  any  way  he  thinks  most  profitable.  It  does 
not  yet  appear  that  the  decision  seriously  threatens  "  Jim-Crowism." 


PART  XII 


A  BUSINESS  AGE:  1876-1916 

722.  The  forty  years  between  Beconstruction  and  the  World 
War  belong  to  "contemporary  history."  Leading  actors  are 
Still  living  ;  and  causes  and  motives  in  many  cases  are  not 


THE  CAPITOL,  AT  WASHINGTON. 

yet  surely  known.  The  two  great  phases  are  (1)  an  enormous 
economic  and  industrial  growth,  and  (2)  the  rising  struggle  be 
tween  the  people  on  the  one  side,  and  great  wealth,  fortified  by 
special  privilege,  on  the  other. 

.600 


§  723]  ADMINISTRATIONS,   1877-1917  601 

Wealth  is  supported  by  vast  numbers  of  a  middle  class  who 
feel  dependent  upon  it.  The  labor  unions,  small  as  their  enroll 
ment  is  in  comparison  with  the  total  number  of  workers,  hold 
the  first  trench  on  the  other  side,  because  of  their  admirable 
organization.  Both  sides,  on  the  whole,  are  honest ;  but  each 
believes  the  other  dishonest  and  unpatriotic.  Neither  can  get 
the  other's  viewpoint ;  and  each  has  been  guilty  of  blunders  and 
of  sins.  Privilege  believes  that  the  welfare  of  the  country  rests 
on  business  prosperity,  and  that  the  government  ought  to  be  an 
adjunct  of  business.  Labor  regards  this  attitude  as  due  merely 
to  personal  greed,  and,  on  its  side,  wishes  government  to  con 
cern  itself  directly  with  promoting  the.  welfare  of  men  and 
women.  The  student  of  history  may  hope  that  this  class  war  is 
only  a  necessary  stage  in  progress  toward  a  broader  social  unity. 

723.   Reference  Table  for  Administrations,  1877-1917 

REPUBLICAN  DEMOCRATIC 

House  Democratic,  whole 

period 
Senate  Democratic,  1879- 

1881 

1881-1885  Garfield  —  Arthur  (House  Demo 
cratic,  1883-1885,  almost  two  to 
one) 

1885-1889 Cleveland   (Senate  Re 
publican) 

1889-1893  Harrison  (House  Democratic, 
1891-1893,  by  231  to  88) 

1893-1897 Cleveland   (Senate  and 

House        Republican 
after  1894) 

1897-1901     McKinley 
1901-1905    McKinley  —  Roosevelt 
1905-1909    Roosevelt 

1909-1913  Taft  (House  Democratic  after 
1910) 

1913-1917 Wilson 

1917-  Wilson 


1877-1881     Hayes 


602 


CHAPTER   LXI 
NATIONAL  GROWTH 

724.  BETWEEN  1860  and  1880,  population  rose  from  31  millions 
to  50  millions  —  one  fourth  the  gain  coming  from  immigration 
—  and  wealth  multiplied  two  and  a  half  times.     Since  1880, 
wealth  has  grown  even  more  rapidly,  but   population  more 
slowly.     In  1890  the  United  States  had  63£  millions  of  people, 
and  in  1910,  93^  millions  (not  counting  the  eight  millions  in 
the    new   possessions   acquired   from   Spain).     Recently,   the 
Middle  West,  so  long  the  scene  of  most  rapid  increase,  has 
become  stationary ;  while  the  manufacturing  East  and  the  far 
West  have  shared  between  them  the  greatest  growth. 

In  1860  cities  contained  one  sixth  the  population ;  in  1880, 
one  fourth ;  and  in  1910,  almost  one  half  (46.3  per  cent).1  Less 
than  one  third  the  people  now  live  on  farms. 

725.  Immigration  was  checked  by  the  Civil  War.     In  1883, 
however,  it  brought  us  more  than  700,000  people,  and  in  1905, 
more   than    a    million.     Until   1890,    immigration    remained 
mainly  like  that  before  the  Civil  War  —  with  some  increase  in 
the  Scandinavian  settlers  in  the  Northwest.     Since  that  year, 
more  and  more,  the  immigrants  have  come  from  Southern  and 
Eastern  Europe,  —  Italians,  Russian  Jews,  Bohemians,  Poles, 
Hungarians.     A  large  part  of  these  Southern  European   im 
migrants  are  illiterate  and  unskilled,  with  a  "  standard  of  liv 
ing  "  lower  than  that  of  American  workingmen.     In  1880  they 
made  only  one  twentieth  of  the  immigrants;    in  1900  they 
made  one  fourth ;  and  the  proportion  is  constantly  increasing. 

1  The  census  of  1910,  however,  classed  all  places  of  more  than  2500  people 
as  "  urban,"  while  earlier  censuses  applied  that  term  only  to  places  of  6000  or 
more. 

603 


604 


NATIONAL  GROWTH  SINCE  THE   WAR       [§  726 


Our  earlier  immigrants  sought  homes  for  the  most  part  on  west 
ern  farms.  Those  of  recent  years  settle  mainly  in  manufac 
turing  centers. 

726.   When  the  Civil  War  began,  the  thirty-four  States  made 
a  solid  block  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi,  with  one 


Copyright,  Underwood  &  Underwood. 

ELLIS  ISLAND,  IN  NEW  YORK  HARBOR,  where  our  annual  million  immigrants 
are  detained  for  examination. 

complete  tier  on  the  west  bank  of  that  river  and  with  Texas 
and  California  farther  west.  Kansas  was  added  in  1861 ; 
Nevada,  in  '64 ;  Nebraska,  in  '67 ;  and  Colorado  became  the 
thirty-eighth  State  in  1876. 

No  new  State  came  in  for  the  next  thirteen  years  —  although 
the  increase  of  population  was  then  still  most  rapid  in  the 
agricultural  region  of  the  newest  "West."  In  the  Dakotas, 
districts  without  a  settler  in  March  were  sometimes  organized 
counties  in  November.  The  two  Dakota  Territories  were  long 
kept  knocking  for  admission,  however,  because  the  Democratic 
Congress  was  unwilling  to  add  States  so  sure  to  reinforce  the 


THE  UNITED  STATES 

i 


§  726]  THE  NEW  STATES  605 

Republican  party.  Montana  and  Washington,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  expected  to  strengthen  the  Democrats  ;  and  in  1889 
an  "  omnibus  bill "  admitted  all  four  Sta.tes.  The  next  year, 
the  admission  of  Idaho  and  Wyoming  gave  the  first  continuous 
band  of  States  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Utah,  though 
prosperous  and  populous,  was  kept  out  for  years  because  of  its 


Copyright,  "Underwood  &  Underwood. 

FUTURE  AMERICANS.  A  photograph  of  a  band  of  Armenians  landed  at  Ellis 
Island,  March  9,  1916.  The  advance  guard  of  a  hody  of  4200  who  were 
rescued  at  one  time  from  Turkish  massacre  by  a  French  cruiser  off  the 
coast  of  Syria. 

polygamy ;  but  in  1890,  when  the  Mormon  Church  renounced 
that  doctrine,  the  State  was  admitted.  Oklahoma,  the  old 
"  Indian  Territory,"  came  in  in  1907,  and  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  in  1912.  This  completed  the  solid  block  of  forty-eight 
States  in  the  vast  region  bounded  by  the  two  oceans,  east  and 
west,  and  by  Canada  and  Mexico  north  and  south.  Before 
long,  no  doubt,  the  nation  will  be  confronted  with  demands 


606 


NATIONAL  GROWTH  SINCE  THE   WAR       [§  727 


for  statehood  from  distant  possessions,  —  Alaska,  Hawaii,  and 
Porto  Rico. 

727.  After  1880,  the  "New  South"  began  to  reap  its  share  of 
industrial  growth.  First  it  seized  upon  its  long-neglected 
advantages  for  cotton  manufacture.  Northern  capital  built 
mills  along  the  "Fall  Line"  (§180),  and  cheap  labor  was 
found  by  inducing  the  "  Poor  Whites "  of  the  neighboring 
mountain-folk  to  gather  in  factory  villages,  where  the  indolent 


COTTON  LEVEE  AT  NEW  ORLEANS.    From  a  photograph. 

parents  might  live  on  the  earnings  of  little  children.  The 
awakened  South  began  also  to  make  use  of  its  mines  and 
forests,  —  especially  of  the  rich  coal  and  iron  region  stretching 
from  West  Virginia  through  Tennessee  into  Northern  Alabama. 
By  1880,  Alabama  was  sending  pig  iron  to  Northern  mills,  and 
soon  she  became  herself  a  great  center  of  steel  manufacturing. 
Thus  the  old  agricultural  South  was  transformed  into  a  new 
South  of  varied  industries.  And  even  its  agriculture  has 


§  729]  CONSOLIDATION   OF  LINES  607 

been  transformed.  Just  after  the  war,  attempts  were  made  to 
cultivate  huge  plantations  of  the  old  type .  with  gangs  of  hired 
Negroes.  This  proved  a  losing  venture ;  and  soon  the  great 
plantations  began  to  break  up  into  smaller  holdings,  rented  on 
shares  to  Negroes  or  to  Poor  Whites.  TJiese  renters  have  been 
growing  rapidly  into  oivners.  The  Negro's  wholesome  ambition 
to  own  a  farm  promises  to  be  a  chief  source  of  industrial  and 
social  salvation  to  his  race  and  to  the  whole  South. 

728.  Railway  extension  (§§  562,  703)  had  been  checked  during 
the  four  years  of  war,  but  the  last  five  years  of  the  sixties  al 
most  doubled  the  mileage  of  the  country.     The  new  lines  were 
located  mainly  in  the  Northwestern  States  and  Territories ;  and 
they  were  busied  at  first  only  in  carrying  settlers  to  the  moving 
frontier,  and  then  soon  in  bringing  back  farm  produce.     From 
1873  to  1878,  construction  was  checked  again  by  one  of  the 
periodic  business  panics.     Then  by  1880,  another  almost  fabu 
lous  burst  raised  the  mileage  to  92,000,  and  the  next  ten  years 
nearly  doubled  this,  —  to  164,000  miles.     Since  1890,  expansion 
has  been  less  rapid ;  but  the  next  twenty  years  (to  1910)  raised 
the  total  to  237,000  miles.     Since  1880,  America  has  had  a 
larger  ratio  of  railway  mileage  to  population  than  any  other  country. 
Railroads  represent  one  seventh  the  total  wealth  of  the  Nation, 
and  employ  more  than  a  million  men. 

The  eighties  witnessed  also  a  transformation  in  the  old  rail 
roads.  Heavier  steel  rails,  thanks  to  the  Bessemer  invention-,1 
replaced  iron.  This  made  possible  the  use  of  heavier  loco 
motives  and  of  steel  cars  of  greater  size  ;  and  these  called  in  turn 
for  straightening  curves,  cutting  down  grades,  and  bettering 
roadbeds.  Such  changes  "fixed"  a  large  amount  of  capital, 
but  they  greatly  reduced  the  cost  of  transportation. 

729.  More  significant  than  these  physical  changes  was  the  con 
solidation  of  railway  management  and  ownership.     In  1860  no  one 

1  It  was  this  same  invention  that  made  possible  also  a  transformation  of 
cities  in  exterior,  and  in  character  of  life, —a  change  symbolized  by  the  re 
placement  of  the  old  four  or  five-storied  buildings  by  the  new  steel  ten-to-thirty- 
storied  structures. 


608  NATIONAL  GROWTH  SINCE   1865  [§  730 

company  reached  from  the  Atlantic  to  Chicago  :  indeed,  no  com 
pany  controlled  five  hundred  miles  of  road.  One  short  line  led 
to  another,  and  so  to  another,  perhaps  with  awkward  gaps,  and 
certainly  with  annoying  and  costly  transfers,  and  with  confus 
ing  changes  in  rates  and  in  schedules  and  sometimes  in  width 
of  track.  By  1880,  the  gaps  had  been  filled,  gauges  unified, 
and  small  lines  grouped  into  larger  systems — still  counting, 
however,  some  1500.  By  1895,  this  number  had  been  cut  in 
half  by  further  consolidation,  and  forty  leading  lines  controlled 
half  the  mileage  of  the  whole  country.  Since  1905,  all  important 
lines  have  been  controlled  by  seven  or  eight  groups  of  capitalists. 

730.  A  like  consolidation  of  capital  and  management  has 
been  marked  in  nearly  every  sort  of  industry  and  commerce.1 
The  age  of  small  individual  enterprise  has  given  way  to  an  age  of 
large  combinations .  Small  stores  merged  into  department  stores  ; 
small  firms  into  larger  corporations ;  large  corporations  into 
still  larger  "  trusts."  In  the  East,  the  making  of  "  ready-made  " 
clothing  became  a  mighty  factory  industry,  and  new  leather 
sewing  machinery  built  up  huge  shoe-factories.  In  the  West, 
the  farmer's  grain' was  no  longer  ground  in  a  neighboring  mill 
on  some  small  stream,  but  in  great  flour  centers  like  Minneapolis  ; 
and  his  beeves  and  hogs  went,  not  to  a  village  slaughter-house, 
but  to  the  vast  meat-packing  industries  of  Chicago.  Even  in 
agriculture  this  era  of  combination  saw  a  new  type  of  "bo 
nanza  farmers,"  each  owning  his  thousands  of  rich  acres  in 
the  Dakotas  ;  and  "  cattle  kings  "  seized  on  the  immense  feed 
ing  ranges  of  the  Southwest. 

In  connection  with  new  scientific  knowledge,  this  combination  brought 
vast  saving  of  wealth.  The  old  village  slaughter  house  threw  away  horns 
and  hoofs  and  hair  and  intestines  :  the  great  packing-house  works  up  all 
these  —  "everything  except  the  squeal"  —  into  articles  of  use.  Pine 
stumps  were  found  valuable  for  turpentine,  and  the  Southern  cottonseed, 
formerly  consigned  to  troublesome  refuse  heaps,  was  found  highly 

1  Between  1880  and  1890  the  number  of  woolen  mills  decreased  from  1990  to 
1311,  and  the  manufactories  of  farm  implements  from  1943  to  910 ;  but  in  each 
line  the  output  was  more  than  doubled.  So,  too,  of  iron  and  steel  mills. 


§  731]  BUSINESS  IMMORALITY  609 

valuable,  first  for  fertilizing  land,  then  for  stock  food,  and  finally  for 
vegetable  oils  for  human  food.     So,  too,  in  countless  other  lines. 

731.  Unhappily,  this  material  growth  was  accompanied  by 
an  amazing  growth  of  business  immorality.  This  tendency,  notice 
able  before  the  war,  had  been  strengthened  by  the  flaunt 
ing  success  of  corrupt  army  contractors,  and  was  fostered  for 
years  afterward  by  the  gambling  spirit  begotten  of  an  unstable 
currency  and  of  the  spectacle  of  multitudes  of  fortunes  made 
overnight  in  the  oil  wells  of  Pennsylvania 1  or  in  the  new  min 
ing  regions  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  Idaho,  and  Montana.  In  later 
years,  too,  the  tremendous  power  over  credits  possessed  by  rail 
road  kings  and  by  the  heads  of  other  great  consolidations  of 
capital  has  tempted  them  constantly  from  their  true  functions 
as  "  captains  of  industry  "  to  play  the  part  of  buccaneers  in  the 
stock  market.  Unreasonable  profits,  too,  in  the  regular  line  of 
business  draw  the  controlling  stockholders  in  multitudes  of 
corporations  to  increase  their  own  shares  by  juggling  the 
smaller  holders  out  of  theirs. 

Sometimes  the  controlling  stockholders  of  a  corporation  turn  its  affairs 
over  to  an  operating  company  —  composed  of  themselves  alone  —  which 
then  absorbs  all  the  profits  of  the  whole  business  in  salaries  or  in  other 
ways  provided  in  the  contract  which  the  raiders  have  made  with  them 
selves.  Or  leading  members  of  a  railway  company  organize  an  inside 
company  —  like  an  express  company  —  to  which  then  the  legitimate  profits 
of  the  first  company  are  largely  diverted  in  the  shape  of  excessive  rates 
on  certain  parts  of  the  railroad  business.  Only  one  degree  worse  is  the 
deliberate  wrecking  of  a  prosperous  corporation,  by  intentional  misman 
agement,  so  that  the  insiders  may  buy  up  the  stock  for  a  song,  and  then 
rejuvenate  it  —  to  their  huge  profit.  Step  by  step,  the  law  has  striven  to 
cope  with  all  such  forms  of  robbery ;  but  numerous  shrewd  corporation 
lawyers  find  employment  in  steering  "malefactors  of  great  wealth"2 
through  the  devious  channels  of  "  high  finance  "so  as  to  avoid  grazing 
the  letter  of  the  law. 

1  Petroleum  was  discovered  in  Pennsylvania  in  1859,  but  no  marked  develop 
ment  came  in  production  till  after  the  War.    Then  "to  strike  oil"  soon  be 
came  a  byword  for  success  —  equivalent  to  a  "  ship  come  home  "  in  the  days 
of  more  primitive  commerce.    In  1872  petroleum  ranked  among  our  exports 
next  to  cotton,  wheat,  and  meats. 

2  A  phrase  of  President  Roosevelt's  (§  832). 


610  BUSINESS  IMMORALITY  [§  732 

732.  One  ruinous  consequence  of  this  lack  of  moral  sense  in 
business  was  a  general  indifference  to  the  looting  of  the  public 
domain  by  business  interests  and  favored  individuals.  Thus, 
the  timber  on  the  public  lands,  with  decent  care,  would  have 
supplied  all  immediate  wants  and  still  have  remained  unim 
paired  for  future  generations.  But  with  criminal  recklessness, 
the  people  permitted  a  few  individuals  not  only  to  despoil  the 
future  of  its  due  heritage,  but  even  to  engross  to  themselves  the 
vast  immediate  profits  which  properly  belonged  to  present  so 
ciety  as  a  whole.  And,  in  their  haste  to  grasp  these  huge 
profits,  the  big  lumbermen  wasted  more  than  they  pocketed,  — 
taking  only  the  best  log  perhaps  out  of  three,  and  leaving  the 
others  to  rot,  or,  along  with  the  carelessly  scattered  slashings, 
to  feed  chance  fires  into  irresistible  conflagrations,  which,  it  is 
estimated,  have  swept  away  at  least  a  fourth  of  our  forest 
wealth.  Quaintly  enough,  this  piteous  spoliation  and  waste 
was  excused  and  commended  as  "development  of  natural  re 
sources,"  and  laws  were  made  or  twisted  for  its  encouragement. 

Timber  land,  especially  the  pine  forests  of  the  Northwest, 
did  not  attract  the  genuine  homesteader :  too  much  labor  was 
required  to  convert  such  lands  into  homes  and  farms,  and  the 
soil  and  distance  from  market  were  discouraging  for  agriculture. 
Such  lands  ought  to  have  been  withdrawn  by  the  government 
from  homestead  entry.  But,  as  the  law  was  then  administered, 
a  man  could  "  enter  "  a  quarter  section,  clear  a  patch  upon  it, 
appear  upon  it  for  a  night  every  few  months,  and  so  fulfill  all 
legal  requirements  to  complete  title,  —  after  which  he  had  per 
fect  right  to  sell  the  valuable  timber,  which  had  been  his  only 
motive  in  the  transaction.  Multitudes,  less  scrupulous  about 
legal  formalities,  sold  the  timber  immediately  after  making 
entry,  without  ever  "  proving  up  "  at  all. 

These  individual  operations  were  trivial  in  amount ;  but  the 
big  lumber  kings  extended  their  effect  by  hiring  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  "  dummy  "  homesteaders  to  secure  title  in  this  way 
to  vast  tracts  of  forest  and  to  turn  it  over,  for  a  song,  to  the 
enterprising  employer.  Nor,  in  early  years,  did  any  one  see 


§  733]  SIGNS  OF  PROMISE  611 

wrong  in  this  process.  Condemnation,  none  too  severe,  was 
reserved  for  the  lumbermen  who  took  shorter  cuts  by  forging 
the  entries  or  by  using  the  same  "  dummies "  many  times 
over,  in  open  defiance  of  the  law.  In  ways  similar,  but  varied 
as  to  details,  the  State  lands,  too,  became  the  legalized  booty 
of  private  citizens. 

733.  This  epidemic  of  waste  and  plunder  had  its  golden  age 
from  1870  to  about  1890.  James  Russell  Lowell  spoke  sorrow 
fully  of  the  degradation  of  the  moral  tone  in  America,  and 
many  less  robust  thinkers  despaired  openly  of  democracy. 
But  signs  of  promise  were  not  wanting.  A  passion  for  education 
possessed  the  people.  The  public  high  school  was  just  taking 
full  possession  of  its  field.  A  new  group  of  great  teachers  and 
organizers  at  new  universities,  —  Andrew  D.  White  at  Cornell, 
James  B.  Angell  at  Michigan,  Gilman  at  Johns  Hopkins, 
Eliot  at  his  reorganized  Harvard,  with  their  many  fellows,  — 
were  setting  up  higher  ideals  for  American  scholarship,  and 
connecting  scholarship  as  never  before  with  the  daily  life  of 
the  people.  About  1890,  such  institutions  began  to  send  forth 
trained,  devoted,  vigorous  young  men  to  the  service  of  the 
nation  in  its  battle  with  corruption  and  with  intrenched 
privilege.  Meantime,  during  the  darkest  years  of  material 
prosperity,  some  of  the  fine  idealism  of  the  Civil  War  period 
lived  on — sometimes  no  doubt  in  blundering  paths  —  in  the 
movements  of  the  Greenbackers  and  Prohibitionists  and 
Grangers  (§  782)  to  regenerate  society. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — Every  high  school  student  should  read 
Winston  Churchill's  In  a  Far  Country,  William  Allen  White's  A  Certain 
Rich  Man,  — each  a  sort  of  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  allegory  of  American 
life  in  the  decades  following  the  Civil  War,  —  and  Booth  Tarkington's 
The  Turmoil.  The  phases,  good  and  bad,  of  the^waste  of  the  public 
domain  are  pictured  graphically  in  Stewart  Edward  White's  two  related 
stories,  The  Eiverman  and  The  Rules  of  the  Game. 

The  difficult  and  important  period  since  the  Civil  War  is  treated  well  in 
two  small  recent  volumes,  one  of  which  every  student  should  read: 
Haworth's  Eeconstruction  and  Union,  and  Paxson's  New  Nation.  • 


THE  UNITED  STATES  CUSTOMS  HOUSE  AT  NEW  YORK.    From  a  photograph. 

CHAPTER   LXII 

THE   POLITICAL   STORY,   1876-1896 

(Civil  Service  and  the  Tariff) 

734.  UNTIL  the  Roosevelt  administration,  the  average  re 
spectable  citizen  knew  little  definitely  about  the  corruption 
rampant  in  business  and  politics,  and  was  usually  inclined  to 
dismiss  all  accusations  as  groundless.  One  evil,  however,  was 
too  spectacular  to  be  ignored.  In  1871  public  opinion  forced 
the  unwilling  Congress  to  pass  an  Act  to  rescue  the  Civil  Service 
from  the  Spoils  system.  At  first,  President  Grant  seemed  to 
favor  the  idea ;  but  in  practice  he  let  -  his  friends  among  the 
spoilsmen  thwart  the  law  and  drive  from  office  the  men  who 
wished  to  administer  it  honestly  (§  714).  And  in  1874  Congress 
refused  to  renew  the  small  appropriation  for  the  work, — 
trusting  to  public  disgust  at  the  breakdown  of  the  reform. 

President  Hayes  was  in  earnest  in  the  matter.  His  few 
removals  from  office  were  mainly  to  get  rid  of  spoilsmen  —  as 

612 


§  735]  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  613 

when  he  dismissed  Chester  A.  Arthur  from  the  New  York 
Collectorship  of  Customs  —  and  he  issued  a  notable  "Civil 
Service  order"  forbidding  Federal  employees  to  take  part  in 
political  campaigns  (cf.  Jefferson's  idea,  §  448).  This  order, 
however,  quickly  became  a  dead  letter.  Post-office  officials 
jeered  at  it ;  and  the  nation  had  not  yet  learned  that  no  reform 
was  possible  except  on  this  basis. 

735.  In  1880  the  campaign  was  a  struggle  for  office  between 
the  ins  and  outs  to  a  degree  unparalleled  since  1824.  Neither 
party  took  a  stand  on  any  live  question.  The  Democrats  railed 
at  various  Republican  shames,  but  gave  i;o  assurance  of 
doing  better  themselves.  AVith  a  large  part  of  the  youth  of 
the  nation  they  were  still  discredited  as  "  the  party  of  dis 
loyalty."  The  Republicans  "pointed  with  pride"  to  their 
record  as  "the  Grand  Old  Party  that  saved  the  Union  and 
freed  the  Slave,"  but  they  had  no  program  for  the  future. . 
Twenty  years  before,  the  Republican  party  had  been  the  party 
of  the  plain  people,  typified  by  Lincoln ;  but  during  its  long 
lease  of  power  the  desire  for  political  favors  had  drawn  to  it 
all  those  selfish  and  corrupt  influences  which  at  first  had 
opposed  it.  In  the  West  two  minor  parties  had  appeared 
with  real  convictions,  —  Prohibitionists  and  Greenbackers, — 
but  their  numbers  were  insignificant. 

In  the  Republican  Convention  a  desperate  attempt  was 
made  to  nominate  ex-President  Grant,  but  the  tradition  against 
a  third  term  was  too  strong.  Ballot  after  ballot  he  received 
from  302  to  312  votes ;  but  379  were  necessary,  and  the 
nomination  finally  went  to  a  dark  horse,  —  James  A.  Garjleld. 
For  the  Vice  Presidency  the  Convention  named  Chester  A. 
Arthur  (§  734)  to  rebuke  Hayes'  reform  tendencies.  The 
Massachusetts  delegation  presented  a  resolution  favoring  Civil 
Service  Reform,  but  it  was  voted  down  overwhelmingly  —  a 
certain  Flanagan,  delegate  from  Texas,  exclaiming  indignantly, 
"  What  are  we  here  for  ?  " 

During  the  campaign,  every  Federal  officeholder  received 
a  letter  from  the  Republican  National  Committee  assessing 


614  THE  POLITICAL  STORY,    1876-1896  [§  736 

a  certain  per  cent  of  his  salary  for  the  Republican  campaign 
fund.  Officials  who  neglected  to  pay  these  "  voluntary  contri 
butions  "  were  "  reported  "  to  the  heads  of  their  departments 
for  discipline.  The  vast  public  service,  of  two  hundred  thou 
sand  men,  was  turned  into  a  machine  to  insure  victory  to  the 
party  in  control.  The  practice  had  never  before  been  followed 
up  with  such  systematic  shamelessness.1 

Garfield  was  elected  by  a  large  electoral  majority,  but  with 
only  some  10,000  votes  more  than  his  opponent  in  the  country 
at  large.  The  new  President  found  a  third  of  his  time  consumed 
by  office-seekers. .  They  "  waylaid  him  when  he  ventured  from 
the  shelter  of  his  home,  and  followed  him  even  to  the  doors 
of  the  church  where  he  worshipped."  Four  months  after  his 
inauguration  he  was  murdered  by  a  crazed  applicant  for  office. 

736.  Meantime,  more  scandal!  T.  W.  Brady,  one  of  the 
highest  officials  in  the  postal  service,  had  conspired  with  a  group 
of  contractors  —  including  a  United  States  Senator  —  to  cheat 
the  government  out  of  half  a  million  dollars  a  year.  On  certain 
"star  routes,"  the  legal  compensation  for  carrying  mail  had 
been  increased  enormously  by  secret  agreements  for  pretended 
services,  and  then  the  surplus  had  been  divided  between  the 
contractors  and  the  officials. 

When  this  investigation  began,  Brady  demanded  that  Gar- 
field  call  it  off.  Not  gaining  this  favor,  he  published  a  letter 
written  by  Garfield  during  the  campaign,  showing  that  he 
(Garfield)  had  urged  the  collection  of  campaign  funds  from 
officials.  On  the  other  hand,  President  Arthur  surprised  the 
reform  element  by  his  good  sense  and  firmness,  by  the  cordial 
support  he  gave  to  Civil  Service  Reform,  and  by  the  faithful 
ness  with  which  he  pressed  the  trial  of  the  star-route  thieves. 


1  Such  collections  from  officials  were  made  an  excuse  by  them  for  demanding 
higher  salaries.  As  always,  the  people  paid.  The  following  contrast  shows 
progress.  In  the  recent  campaign  (1916)  the  Republican  National  Committee 
asked  thousands  of  voters  for  subscriptions ;  but  the  circular  closed  with 
the  injunction,  —  "If  you  are  a  Federal  officeholder,  please  disregard  this 
request." 


§  738]  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  615 

Those  trials  were  spectacular.  Important  newspapers  impu 
dently  whitewashed  the  criminals ;  and  insolent  boasts  were 
made  freely  that  no  jury  would  convict  such  "  high  and  influ 
ential  men.'7  Through  technicalities  and  delays,  the  bigger 
criminals  did  all  escape. 

737.  These  events  focused  attention  again  on  the  need  of  Civil 
Service  reform.     Congress,  however,  remained  deaf  in  the  session 
of  1881-1882;    and,  in  the  congressional   elections   of   1882, 
another  assessment  letter  to  Federal  officials  was  signed  by 
three  leading  Republican  statesmen.     Popular  indignation  at 
these  offenses  made  itself  felt  in  the  elections,  and  the  next 
session  of  the  chastened  Congress  promptly  passed  the  Civil 
Service  Act  (January,  1883),  providing  that  vacancies  in  certain 
classes  of  offices  should  be  filled  in  future  from  applicants  whose 
fitness  had  been  tested  by  competitive  examination,  and  that 
such  appointments  should   be  revoked  afterward   only   "for 
cause."      A   Civil   Service   Commission,  also,   to   oversee    the 
workings  of  the  law,  was  established.     The  law  did  not  apply 
to  heads  of  large  offices,  or  to  any  office  where  the  President's 
nomination  requires  confirmation  by  the  Senate ;   and  it  was 
left  to  the  President  to  classify  from  time  to  time  the  offices  to 
be  protected.     President  Arthur  at  once  placed  some  14,000 
positions  under  the  operation  of  the  law. 

738.  For  nearly  twenty  years,  Mr.  Blaine  had  been  the  idol 
of   the  Republican  masses,  and  in  1884  he   at  last  won  the 
nomination  for  the   Presidency  —  despite    earnest  opposition 
from  a  large  "  reform  "  element  led  by  veterans  like  Carl  Schurz, 
Andrew  D.  White,  and  George  William  Curtis,  editor  of  Harper's 
Weekly,  and  by  ardent  young  men  like  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  of 
Massachusetts  and  Theodore  Roosevelt  of  New  York.     The 
reformers  took  their  defeat  in  various  ways.     Lodge  swallowed 
his  chagrin  and.  supported  the  ticket.      Roosevelt  went  west, 
to  begin  his  ranch  life  in  Dakota.     The  greater  number  became 
"  Mugwumps,"  and  supported  Grover  Cleveland,  the  Democratic 
candidate.    ' 

Cleveland  had  attracted  attention  as  governor  of  New  York 


616  THE  POLITICAL  STORY,   1876-1896  [§  739 

by  his  stubborn  honesty  and  his  fearless  attitude  toward  the 
corrupt  Tammany  machine.  His  friends  jubilantly  shouted 
the  slogan,  —  "  We  love  him  for  the  enemies  he  has  made  " ; 
and  he  was  elected  as  a  reform  President,  with  the  civil  service 
issue  in  the  foreground.  But  the  great  body  of  Democratic 
politicians  were  secretly  or  actively  hostile  to  civil  service 
reform ;  and  the  President's  position  was  more  difficult  even 
than  Jefferson's  had  been  three  generations  before.  In  spite 
of  the  recent  law,  every  Federal  official  was  still  a  Eepublican. 
The  Democratic  office  seekers  were  ravening  from  their  quarter- 
century  fast;  and  their  pressure  upon  the  head  of  their  party 
for  at  least  a  share  in  the  public  service  was  overwhelming. 
With  all  his  unquestioned  sincerity  and  firmness,  the  President 
gave  ground  before  this  spoils  spirit  far  enough  to  drive  many 
Mugwumps,  in  disgust,  back  to  the  Republicans.  Still,  the  ad 
ministration  marks  a  notable  advance  for  a  non-partisan  service. 
It  definitely  established  the  principle  of  Hayes'  Civil  Service 
order  against  "  offensive  partisanship  "  by  officials,  prevented 
political  assessments,  and  doubled  the  "  classified  "  list. 

739.  When  Cleveland  became  President,  the  war  tariffs  weje 
still  in  force.  By  the  trend  of  our  history,  too,  high  protection 
had  become  associated  in  the  thought  of  the  North  with  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  freeing  of  the  slave ;  and 
the  special  interests,  thriving  on  protection,  knew  how  to  take 
shrewd  advantage  of  this  habit  of  thought  among  the  people. 

With  dogged  persistence,  Cleveland  strove  to  lead  the  Demo 
cratic  party  to  take  up  tariff  reduction.  In  message  after  message, 
he  called  attention  to  the  dangerous  piling  up  of  the  surplus 
from  the  needless  revenue;  to  the  consequent  opportunities 
for  extravagance  and  corruption  in  expenditure ;  and  es 
pecially  to  the  unjust  burdens  upon  the  poorer  classes  of 
society  from  tariff  taxation.  In  December,  1887,  his  message 
was  given  up  wholly  to  this  one  topic,  denouncing  the  existing 
tariff  fiercely  as  "  vicious  "  and  "  inequitable."  During  the 
following  summer,  by  such  argument,  and  by  a  despotic  use  of 
the  President's  power  of  "  patronage  "  (§  572),  the  House  was 


§741]  CLEVELAND  AND  THE   TARIFF  617 

spurred  into  passing  a  reform  "  Mills  bill," l  placing  a  few  im 
portant  articles  011  the  free  list  and  reducing  the  average  tax 
from  47  per  cent  to  40 ;  but  this  measure  failed  in  the  Repub 
lican  Senate. 

740:  In  the  "educational  campaign"  of  1888,  for  the  first  time 
for  almost  sixty  years,  the  tariff  was  the  leading  issue  before  the 
people.  Elaine  had  replied  to  Cleveland's  epoch-making  mes 
sage  of  '87  by  a  striking  "  interview,"  cabled  from  Paris,  setting 
up  protection  as  the  desirable  permanent  policy.  The  Repub 
lican  party  rallied  to  this  standard.  Its  platform  declared  for 
reduction  of  internal  taxes  (on  whisky),  in  order  to  remove 
opportunity  to  reduce  tariff  income.  Orators  like  William 
McKinley  represented  tariff  reduction  as  "unpatriotic"  and 
"  inspired  by  our  foreign  rivals  "  ;  and  even  the  Republicans 
of  the  Northwest,  where  Republican  conventions  in  State  after 
State  had  been  calling  for  reform,  were  whipped  into  line  by 
the  plea  £hat  the  tariff,  if  revised  at  all,  should  at  least  be 
revised  "  by  its  friends." 

The  debate  was  marked  by  a  notable  shift  of  ground  on  the 
part  of  protectionists.  Clay  and  the  earlier  protectionists 
advocated  protection  for  "infant  industries,"  as  a  temporary 
policy.  This  argument  hardly  applied  now  that  those  in 
dustries  had  become  dominating  influences  in  the  country. 
Greeley,  in  the  forties  and  fifties,  had  modified  it  into  a  plea 
for  protection  to  higher  wages  for  American  workingmen  com 
pared  with  European  laborers  (§  596).  This  now  became  the 
general  argument.  It  failed,  however,  to  take  account  of  the 
higher  cost  of  living  because  of  the  tariff ;  nor  was  evidence 
submitted  to  show  that  the  protected  industries  really  paid 
higher  wages  in  return  for  their  tariff  privileges. 

741.  The  Republican  manager,  Matthew  Quay,  Senator  from 
Pennsylvania,  was  a  noted  spoilsman,  and  had  been  publicly 
accused  in  Congress,  without  denial  on  his  part,  of  having 
stolen  $260,000  from  the  treasury  of  Pennsylvania  while  an 

1  Roger  Q.  Mills  of  Texas  was  the  chief  author  of  the  measure. 


618  THE  POLITICAL  STORY,    1876-1896  [§  742 

officer  of  that  State.  He  now  called  on  "  protected "  manu 
facturers  for  huge  contributions  to  the  Republican  funds ; 1 
and,  according  to  general  belief,  spent  money  more  freely  than 
ever  before  in  buying  votes  in  doubtful  States.  One  scandal, 
made  public  a  little  later,  was  long  remembered.  A  member  of 
the  Republican  National  Committee  wrote  to  political  lieu 
tenants  in  Indiana,  on  which  State  it  was  thought  the  election 
would  turn,  —  "  Divide  the  '  floaters '  into  blocks  of  five,  and 
put  a  trusted  man  with  the  necessary  funds  in  charge  of  each 
five,  and  make  him  responsible  that  none  get  away  and  that  all 
vote  our  ticket." 

742.  With  the  secret  aid  of  the  Democratic  Tammany 
machine  in  New  York,  the  Republicans  elected  Benjamin  Harrison, 
though  he  had  100,000  fewer  votes  than  Cleveland.  The  Re 
publican  platform  had  promised  an  extension  of  civil  service 
reform  ;  but  for  months  after  the  victory,  the  spoils  system  was 
rampant.  Clarkson,  the  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  earned 
the  title  of  "  the  Headsman,"  by  gleefully  decapitating  30,000 
postmasters  in  the  first  year ;  and,  amid  the  applause  of  the 
Senate,  Ingalls  of  Kansas  declared,  —  "The  purification  of 
politics  is  an  iridescent  dream ;  the  Decalogue  and  the  Golden 
Rule  have  no  place  in  a  political  campaign."  This  attitude  of 
prominent  spoilsmen  was  rebuked,  however,  by  the  people  in 
the  Congressional  elections  of  1890,  and  President  Harrison 
appointed  to  the  Civil  Service  Commission  Theodore  Roose 
velt  of  New  York.  This  fearless  young  reformer  at  once 
injected  new  energy  into  the  administration  of  the  law,  and 
rallied  a  fresh  enthusiasm  among  the  people  to  its  support  by 
his  vigorous  use  of  language.  Hitherto,  the  spoilsmen  had 
reviled  the  mild-mannered  gentlemen  of  the  Commission  at 
will :  Roosevelt  gave  back  epithet  for  epithet,  with  interest,  — 
as  when  he  affirmed  that  a  great  part  of  the  political  contri 
butions  extorted  from  reluctant  officials  was  "  retained  by  the 
jackals  who  collected  it.'7 

1  This  and  other  evil  features  of  the  political  campaigns  of  this  era  are  pre 
sented  in  Blythe's  striking  political  novel,  A  Western  Warwick. 


§  744]  THE  McKINLEY  TARIFF  OF   1890  619 

743.  The  Republicans  called  their  victory  "a  mandate  for 
protection,"  and  the  McKinley  Tariff  of  1890  raised  rates  even 
above   the  war   standard.     The  committee   in  charge  of  the 
framing  of  the  bill  held  "  public  hearings,"  at  which  any  one 

.interested  might  appear,  to  present  his  needs  and  views.  In 
practice,  this  resulted  in  hearing  at  great  length  the  claims  of 
the  scores  of  great  manufacturers,  but  hardly  at  all  the  claims 
of  the  millions  of  small  consumers.  Thus  the  Binding  Twine 
trust  secured  the  power  to  tax  every  sheaf  of  the  farmer's 
grain,  by  a  tariff  on  twine,  in  spite  of  earnest  but  less  organized 
opposition  by  the  farmers  of  the  country.  "  Special  interests  " 
shaped  the  law.  (Cf.  Randolph's  warning,  §  507.) 

A  novel  feature  of  the  bill  was  its  "reciprocity"  provisions.  Foreign 
countries,  incensed  at  our  exclusion  of  their  products,  were  threatening 
retaliatory  tariffs  on  American  foodstuffs ;  and  even  Elaine  had  criticized 
the  bill  sharply,  in  its  original  form,  on  the  ground  that  it  failed  to  "  open 
the  market  to  another  bushel  of  grain  or  another  barrel  of  pork."  Finally, 
it  was  arranged  that  the  President  might  provide  by  treaty  for  the  free 
admission  of  raw  sugar,  coffee,  molasses,  and  hides,  from  any  country 
which  would  admit  free  our  products.  Some  treaties  of  this  nature  were 
afterward  negotiated  with  Central  and  South  American  countries. 

744.  An  immediate  rise  in  prices  on  manufactures1  made 
the  new  tariff  highly  unpopular,  and  the  congressional  elections 
of  1890  witnessed  a  "  landslide  "  for  the  Democrats.     Various 
House  bills  for  tariff  reduction,  however,  were  buried  in  the 
hold-over  Senate ;  and  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury  had  been 
dissipated  by  a  huge  increase  in  pensions  for  the  veterans  of 
the  Civil  War. 

Cleveland's  first  administration  had  witnessed  a  savage  raid  on  the 
Treasury  in  the  form  of  thousands  of  special  pension  bills.  Many  of  these 
applied  to  meritorious  cases  which  even  the  generous  provisions  of  the 
general  law  did  not  reach;  but  hundreds  of  others  were  gross  frauds, 
which,  in  many  cases,  had  already  been  exposed  by  the  regular  pension 

1  The  rise  reached  many  forms  of  foodstuffs.  Thus  canned  goods  were 
raised  because  the  canners  had  to  pay  more  for  tfn  plate,  on  which  the  tariff 
had  been  doubled. 


620  THE   POLITICAL  STORY,    1876-1896  [§  745 

bureau.  Cleveland  vetoed  233  private  pension  bills.1  Then  Harrison's 
administration  saw  the  pension  rolls  doubled  by  a  new  general  law,  with  an 
increase  of  annual  expenditure  for  this  purpose  from  88  millions  to  159 
millions.  The  same  four  years  (1889-1893)  saw  the  yearly  expenditure 
for  the  navy  mount  from  17  to  33  millions.  The  Fifty-first  Congress  was 
the  first  "Billion-Dollar  Congress." 

745.  The  rebound  against  the  McKinley  Tariff  elected  Cleveland 
again  in  1892.     The  Democratic  platform  had  declared  frankly 
for  a  tariff  "  for  revenue  only."     During  the  campaign,  however, 
the  leaders  felt  impelled  to  promise  that  reductions  from  exist 
ing  rates  should  be  made  gradually,  so  as  to  permit  business  to 
readjust    itself    safely.      Moreover,    tariff    reform    was    now 
hampered  by  currency  questions,  which  had  thrust  themselves 
into  the  foreground  (§  750  ff.).     A  "  Wilson  Bill "  did  pass  the 
House  in  form  fairly  satisfactory  to  tariff  reformers  ;  but  in  the 
Senate   where  the  Democrats  had   a  bare  majority  anyway, 
several  members  deserted  in  order  to  secure  protection  for  in 
terests  which  they  represented  (sugar  in  Louisiana,  iron  in  West 
Virginia  and  Alabama,  etc.),  and  amended2  the  bill  into  what 
President  Cleveland  called  bluntly  a  measure  of  "  party  perfidy." 
He  felt  constrained,  however,  to  let  the  bill  become  law  —  as 
the  best  thing  attainable.     It  reduced  the  average  of  the  duties 
from  49  to  40  per  cent ;  and  it  was  accompanied  by  a  sop  to 
the  radicals  in  the  shape  of  a  tax  of  two  per  cent  on  all  incomes 
over  $4000. 

746.  This  compensation  to  the  poorer  classes  was  at  once  nullified. 
The  Supreme  Court  declared  the  income  tax  unconstitutional.3 

1  In  other  respects,  also,  Cleveland  gave  a  new  vigor  to  the  veto  power. 
President  Johnson,  in  his  Reconstruction  quarrel  with  Congress,  vetoed  21  bills, 
—  many  more  than  any  predecessor,  —  though  several  of  these  vetoes  were  over 
ridden.    Grant  used  the  veto  43  times  in  his  two  terms.     Up  to  Cleveland's 
accession,  there  had  been  in  all  only  132  Presidential  vetoes.    In  his  first  term 
Cleveland  used  the  power  301  times.    Cf .  §  567. 

2  People  were  shocked  to  learn  that  prominent  Senators  were  speculating 
in  stocks  whose  value  would  be  affected  by  their  votes.    In  an  "  investigation," 
Senator  Quay  had  to  confess  that  he  had  bought  sugar  stock  "  for  a  rise." 

8  On  the  ground  that  it  was  a  direct  tax  but  not  apportioned  as  the  Consti 
tution  orders  for  direct  taxes  (Art.  I,  sec.  2). 


§  747]        INCOME  TAX  AND  SUPREME   COURT  621 

During  the  War,  precisely  such  a  tax  had  been  in  force,  and 
in  1875  the  Court  had  decided  unanimously  that  the  tax  law 
was  constitutional.  In  this  like  case,  twenty  years  later,  the 
Court  at  first  divided  equally,  four  to  four.  Public  feeling  was 
intense.  The  conservative  moneyed  classes  were  represented 
before  the  Court  by  the  great  lawyer,  Rufus  Choate,  who 
declared  that  such  a  tax  would  "  scatter  to  the  winds  the  very 
keystone  of  civilization  —  the  rights  of  private  property."  On 
the  recovery  of  a  sick  Justice,  the  case  was  heard  again.  The 
Justice  before  absent  now  voted  for  the  tax  ;  but  Justice  Shiras, 
who  had  before  voted  for  it,  now  changed  to  the  opposition. 

Conservatives  exulted  loudly.  Said  the  New  York  Sun, 
"  The  wave  of  socialistic  revolution  has  gone  far,  but  it  breaks 
at  the  foot  of  the  ultimate  bulwark  set  up  for  the  protection  of 
our  liberties.  Five  to  four,  the  Court  stands  like  a  rock."  On 
the  other  hand  the  stern  disappointment  of  the  reform  elements 
was  voiced  by  Justice  Harlan  in  an  able  dissenting  opinion 
which  was  marked  by  unusual  emotion  and  which  let  it  be  seen 
that  the  Justice  felt  that  the  great  Court  had  struck  a  cruel 
blow  at  American  institutions.  The  modern  verdict  upon  the 
decision,  and  upon  its  effect  on  society,  is  expressed  well  by 
Professor  Davis  Rich  Dewey :  —  "  Interest  in  the  tax  itself  was 
lost  sight  of  in  the  revelation  of  fickleness  and  uncertainty  in 
the  highest  court  of  the  land."  It  was  particularly  unfortu 
nate  that  such  shiftiness  should  have  operated  as  a  protection 
to  the  wealthy  classes  only.  (Cf.  §  711.) 

747.  -The  election  of  1896  was  won  by  the  Republicans  on  the 
issue  of  "  sound  money "  (§  757)  ;  but  President  McKinley 
claimed  the  victory  as  a  mandate  to  renew  the  high  protection 
policy  with  which  he  had  personally  identified  himself.  Ac 
cordingly,  a  special  session  of  Congress  enacted  the  Dingley 
Tariff,  raising  the  average  rate  to  57  per  cent. 

The  Bill  provided  that,  during  the  two  years  following,  the 
President  might  make  treaties  with  foreign  countries,  abating 
a,  fifth  of  the  Dingley  rates  in  return  for  concessions  to  Ameri 
can  commerce.  The  Republican  masses  were  led  to  look  upon 


622  THE   POLITICAL  STORY,    1876-1896  [§  748 

the  exorbitant  rates  mainly  as  a  club  to  force  reciprocity. 
President  McKinley,  from  time  to  time,  submitted  seven  such 
treaties  to  the  Senate,  but  that  body,  with  an  extreme  of  bad 
faith,  hearkening  only  to  the  special  interests  which  controlled 
the  seats  or  fortunes  of  many  members,  failed  to  ratify.  As 
with  the  preceding  tariff,  the  bargain  by  which  high  rates  had 
been  secured  was  broken ;  and  again  the  loss  fell  upon  the  poor. 

748.  Wherever  the  tariff  did  shield  a  raw  material  from  foreign  compe 
tition  (as  with  wool),  it  gave  a  correspondingly  higher  protection  to  the 
manufacturer  who  was  to  use  that  material.     Thus  the  wearer  of  woolen 
goods  paid  a  double  tax,  —  one  to  the  wool  grower,  and  another  to  the 
manufacturer.    But  as  a  rule,  those  items  which  had  been  added  to  the 
bill  with  a  pretense  of  protecting  the  farmers  proved  again  deceptive.     A 
duty  was  placed  on  hides ;  but  the  advantage  was  monopolized  by  the 
packing  houses.    The  cattle  raiser  got  none  of  it.     He  had  to  sell,  as  be 
fore,  to  the  trust  at  its  own  price  (§  790)  ;  but  the  trust  could  now  make 
the  shoe  manufacturer  pay  more  for  leather.     And  the  only  noticeable 
result  to  the  cattle  raiser  —  and  to  every  other  "ultimate  consumer"  — 
was  a  higher  price  for  shoes  and  harness.     Critics  pointed  out,  too,  that 
the  prohibitive  duties  on  many  foreign  imports  made  it  easier  for  monopo 
listic  combinations  to   control  prices  and   output.     The  years  following 
the  enactment  of  the  Dingley  Tariff  were  just  the  years  of  most  rapid  de 
velopment  of  such  monopolies.     "  The  tariff  is  the  mother  of  the  trusts  " 
became  a  popular  cry. 

749.  Manufactures,  of  course,  were  tremendously  stimulated. 
They  now  used  most  of  the  raw  material  produced  in  America. 
American  mills  forged  their  way  into  the  markets  of  the  world, 
and  underbid  English  and  German  manufacturers  in  Kussia, 
India,  China,  and  Australia.     American  machinery  even  in 
vaded  France  and  England.     To  do  this,  the  American  manu 
facturer  sold  his  goods  cheaper  abroad  than  at  home,  and,  in  part, 
was  enabled  to  undersell  the  foreign  manufacturer  abroad  by 
means  of  the  unreasonable  profits  wrung  from  the  American 
consumer. 

For  a  time  the  country  was  entranced  by  the  appearance  of 
"  prosperity."  But  gradually  the  idea  gained  ground  that  this 
was  a  manufacturer's  prosperity,  paid  for  by  the  consumer. 
The  cost  of  living  rose  so  rapidly  as  to  become  a  byword.  Be- 


§  749]     DINGLEY  TARIFF  :    A  BARGAIN  BROKEN     623 

tween  1896  and  1904  it  was  computed  to  have  increased  a 
fourth.1  This  amounted,  of  course,  to  a  savage  cut  in  wages 
and  in  all  fixed  incomes,  and  it  rapidly  created  a  serious  prob 
lem  for  people  of  small  means. 


A  MODERN  STEEL  PLANT  AT  PITTSBURGH. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  —  Paxson's  New  Nation,  Haworth's  Recon 
struction  and  Union,  or  Bassett's  Short  History  should  be  used  for  a  fuller 
treatment. 

1  The  conservative  figures  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  place  the  increase 
in  the  period  1890-1909  at  26£  per  cent.  Of  course  the  tariff  was  only  one  of 
several  factors  in  the  rise  of  prices.  Another  factor  was  the  increased  volume 
of  gold  —  in  which  prices  are  measured  (§  769,  close).  But  this  last  factor 
operated  all  over  the  world,  —  in  England,  presumably,  as  strongly  as  in 
America.  The  rise  of  prices  in  England,  however,  down  to  the  beginning  of 
the  European  War  in  1914,  was  only  about  a  third  of  that  in  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER   LXIII 

GREENBACKS   AND  FREE  SILVER 

750.  FOR  thirteen  years  after  the  War,  the  "  Treasury  notes  " 
(§  674)  and  the  National  bank  notes  were  the  only  money  in 
circulation.      The  government  redeemed  part  of  this  "Wai- 
currency"  •  —  by  issuing  new  bonds  in  exchange  for  it — but  gold 
did  not  come  out  of  hiding.     This  paper  money  remained  below  par, 
usually  at  about  80  cents,  and  its  value  fluctuated  somewhat,  as 
Wall  Street  speculators  forced  gold  up  or  down. 

In  the  summer  of  1869  Jay  Gould  and  "  Jim  "  Fiske  made 
an  extreme  attempt  to  "  corner  "  gold,  and  on  a  certain  "  Black 
Friday "  they  drove  its  price  up  to  162.  In  other  words,  a 
dollar  of  paper  money  was  driven  down  in  value  to  61  cents,  and 
business  everywhere  was  tottering  to  bankruptcy.  Gould  and 
Fiske  had  tried  zealously  to  cultivate  intimacy  with  President 
Grant  and  to  woo  him  to  their  plans  ;  but  now,  with  the  Presi 
dent's  approval,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  saved  the  busi 
ness  of  the  country,  and  crushed  the  Wall  Street  pirates,  by 
throwing  upon  the  market  many  millions  of  the  government's 
gold  reserve. 

751.  The  government  paid  the  interest  on  all  its  bonds  in  gold. 
This  policy  was  necessary  to  preserve  the  nation's  credit,  but 
it  had  a  repulsive  side.     The  man  who  earned  fifty  dollars  in  the 
field,  or  who  received  that  amount  as  interest  on  a  small  loan, 
had  to  take  his  pay  at  its  face  in  paper ;   but  the  wealthy 
holder  of  a  government  bond,  to  whom  fifty  dollars  of  interest 
was  due,  could  exchange  his  gold  for  sixty  or  seventy  dollars 
in  paper. 

Another  kind  of  wrong  was  still  more  serious.  In  war  time, 
paper  money  was  worth  perhaps  fifty  cents  on  a  dollar.  If  a 

624 


§  753]  GREENBACKS  AND  RESUMPTION  625 

farmer  then  mortgaged  his  two  thousand  dollar  farm  for  half 
its  value,  he  received  $1000  in  greenbacks  (or  $500  in  gold). 
Now,  as  paper  appreciated,  approaching  par,  prices  fell  until 
the  farm  was  worth  perhaps  only  $1000  in  all,  and  the  farmer 
must  pay  all  of  that  to  redeem.  His  property  was  halved,  or  his 
debt  doubled,  by  the  juggling  tricks  of  a  varying  currency. 

752.  Many  men  who  saw  the  abuse  jumped  at  a  deceptive 
remedy.     The  Democratic  platform  of  1868  called  for  "one 
currency  for  the  producer  and  the  bond  holder,"  and  urged  that 
the  government  should  pay  its  interest  in  greenbacks  except 
when  the  bond  specified  gold.      Local  "  Greenback "  parties 
arose,  to  demand  ((Jiat  money  "  as  a  permanent  policy.     In  1876 
the  Greenback  organization  became  national,  with  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency ;   and  two   years   later,  it  cast  a  million 
votes. 

But  meantime  the  Republican  party  stood  victoriously  for 
the  "  resumption  of  specie  payment.'7  Congress  provided  for  the 
accumulation  of  a  gold  reserve  for  that  purpose,  and,  January 
1,  1879,  the  Treasury  announced  its  readiness  to  exchange  gold 
for  its  greenbacks.  Paper  money  rose  at  once  to  par  —  "  as  good 
as  gold  "  —  and  no  one  cared  longer  to  make  the  exchange.  A 
third  of  a  billion  remained  in  circulation ;  but  ever  since  then 
the  notes  have  been  redeemable  on  demand. 

753.  The  paper-money  question  belonged  to  the  Reconstruc 
tion  period.     From  1890  to  about  1900  another  "  cheap  money  " 
agitation  cast  all  other  issues  into  the  background.     This  was 
an  unfortunate  demand  for  "free  silver." 

Until  1873  anyone  could  present  gold  or  silver  bullion  at 
any  government  mint  and  receive  back  the  value  in  coin.  For 
forty  years  the  law  had  fixed  the  "  ratio "  between  the  two 
metals  as  "16  to  1."  At  the  beginning  of  that  period,  and 
for  long  before,  an  ounce  of  gold  was  worth  sixteen  ounces  of 
silver  for  commercial  purposes ;  and  so  the  silver  dollar  was 
made  sixteen  times  as  heavy  as  the  gold  dollar.  After  1850, 
'the  gold  discoveries  in  California  cheapened  the  value  of  gold ; 
and  the  little  silver  that  was  mined  between  that  time  and 


626  THE  POLITICAL  STORY,    187&-1896  [§  754 

1870  could  be  used  more   profitably  in  the  arts  than  at  the 
mint,  so  that  very  little  silver  was  coined.1 

But,  about  1870,  new  silver  mines  in  Nevada  and  Colorado 
began  to  flood  the  markets  with  silver.  Then,  in  1873,  Con 
gress  "  demonetized  "  silver,  —  ceasing  to  authorize  its  coinage, 
except  in  small  quantities  for  the  oriental  trade,  and  refusing 
legal-tender  character  at  home  to  these  "  trade  dollars."  At 
the  same  time,  European  countries  began  to  abandon  "  bimet 
allism"  for  a  gold  standard.  The  increased  output  of  silver, 
together  with  this  decreased  demand  for  it,  forced  down  its 
value  rapidly  ; 2  but  the  silver  mine  owners  called  vociferously 
for  coinage  at  the  old  rate.  Moreover,  the  farmers  of  the  West 
and  many  ardent  reformers  were  persuaded  that  the  "  crime  of 
'73  "  had  been  manipulated  by  the  money  monopolists  of  Wall 
Street  to  reduce  the  volume  of  the  currency,  and  so  enhance 
the  value  of  their  capital.  The  more  thoughtful  advocates  of 
silver  believed  that  its  unlimited  coinage  by  the  United  States 
would  restore  silver  to  its  old  market  value  because  of  the 
increased  demand  ;  but  the  larger  body  of  its  supporters  were 
animated  by  the  crude  fallacies  of  fiat  money,  such  as  had 
inspired  the  Greenback  party. 

754.  It  was  quite  true  that  there  was  not  enough  gold  coined  to  make 
a  proper  basis  for  the  growing  business  of  the  country.  Consequently, 
money  was  appreciating  in  value  and  prices  depreciating.  Creditors 
profited;  debtors,  like  farmers  with  mortgages  to  meet,  suffered. 

All  reformers  saw  these  evils.  Some  magnified  them  unduly,  and 
caught  impulsively  at  the  proffered  remedy  of  making  silver  a  legal  ten 
der  at  the  old  rate.  Their  real  problem  was  to  curb  the  growth  of 
special  privilege  in  business  and  of  corruption  in  politics,  but  they  turned 
aside  for  a  misleading  economic  doctrine.  More  logical  reformers  felt 
that  a  depreciation  of  the  coinage  would  entail  all  the  disasters  of  cheap 
money  and  bring  in  evils  worse  than  those  to  be  cured.  This  unhappy 

1  In  1870,  the  market  ratio  of  the  metals  was  15.57.    A  silver  dollar  would 
have  been  worth  $1.03,  and  they  had  all  been  melted  down  for  this  profit. 

2  By  1876,  the  ratio  of  silver  to  gold  had  fallen  to  17.87 ;  and  by  1893  to 
28.25.    At  the  latter  rate,  a  silver  "  dollar  "  of  the  old  weight  was  worth  only 
56  cents  in  gold. 


§  756]  THE   POPULISTS  627 

division  seriously  delayed  the  reform  of  fundamental  troubles  in  Amer 
ican  life. 

755.  Both   Republicans   and  Democrats  shirked  a  positive 
position  as  to  silver.     Accordingly,  in  the  West   and   South 
there  sprang  up  the  new  Populist  party,  with  a  platform  calling 
for  the  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  at  16  to  1,  for  a  graduated 
income  tax   (§   745),1  postal  savings  banks,  the  "Australian 
ballot "  (§  824),  direct  election  of  United  States  Senators,  an 
eight-hour  day,  and  government  ownership  of  railroads  and 
of  other  natural  monopolies.    To  the  East  all  this  seemed  wild- 
eyed   anarchism.     But   in  the  Presidential   election  of   1892, 
General  Weaver,  the  Populist  candidate,  secured  22  electors, 
with  more  than   a  million   votes,  to   about  five  and   a  half, 
millions  to  each  of  the  main  parties.     Two  years  earlier,  the 
party   had   captured  several  State  governments  in  the  West 
and  South,  and  had  sent  forty  representatives  to  Congress. 

This  Populist  success  induced  Congress,  in  1890,  to  pass 
" the  Sherman  Act"  ordering  a  slight  increase  in  silver  coinage. 
The  increase  in  demand  raised  silver  for  a  time ;  but  in  1893 
the  British  government  demonetized  that  metal  in  India,  and 
it  shrank  to  a  lower  point  than  ever  before.  Gold  now  was 
exported  with  a  rush,  and  that  remaining  in  the  country  was 
hoarded. 

756.  A  periodic  crisis,  due  once   more  to  over-investment 
on  credit,  seems  to  have  been  about  due  ;  and  it  was  hastened 
by  widespread   distrust  of  the  currency  and  by  uncertainty 
as   to   future  action  by   Congress.     In    1893  the  crash  came. 
Creditors  began  to  insist  on  payments  in  gold.    Nearly  six  hun 
dred  banks  closed  their  doors,  and  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
firms  went  to  the  wall,  with  losses  amounting  to  a  third  of  a 
billion.    President  Cleveland  had  to  increase  the  national  debt 
by  selling  bonds,  or  the  gold  reserve  in  the  treasury  would 
have   vanished.2     Industry  was  prostrated  as  at  no  previous 

1  The  student  should  see  that  this  chapter  and  the  preceding  one  give  two 
strands  of  one  story. 

2  See  American  History  and  Government,  §  429. 


628  ELECTION  OF   1896  [§  757 

panic.  Farmers  lost  their  homes,  and  the  improvements  of 
years,  on  small  mortgages.  Cities  were  thronged  with  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  unemployed  and  desperate  men.  Every 
large  place  had  its  free  "  soup  kitchen,"  and  many  towns,  for 
the  first  time  in  America,  opened  "  relief  works,"  to  provide 
the  starving  with  employment. 

757.  The  Campaign  of  1896  was  a  crisis  in  American  history. 
President  Cleveland  alienated  the  radical  wing  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  by  uncompromising  hostility  to  silver  legislation,1 
and  the  party  split  on  that  issue.  The  National  Convention 
afforded  a  dramatic  scene.  William  J.  Bryan  of  Nebraska,  a 
young  man  hardly  known  in  the  East,  swept  the  great 
assembly  resistlessly  by  an  impassioned  speech  of  splendid 
oratory  and  deep  sincerity.  The  contest  between  silver  and 
gold  he  pictured  as  a  contest  of  wealth  against  industry.  The 
gold  men  had  made  much  of  what  they  called  the  business 
interests.  But,  said  Bryan,  "the  farmer  who  goes  forth  in 
the  morning  and  toils  all  day,  and,  by  applying  brain  and. 
muscle  to  natural  resources,  creates  wealth,  is  as  much  a 
business  man  as  is  the  man  who  goes  upon  the  Board  of 
'trade  and  bets  on  the  price  of  grain."  Turning  to  the 
"  gold  "  delegates,  he  exclaimed,  "  You  shall  not  press  down 
upon  the  brow  of  labor  this  crown  of  thorns.  You  shall  not 
crucify  mankind  upon  this  cross  of  gold." 

With  tremendous  enthusiasm,  the  Convention  declared,  two 

1  It  is,  perhaps,  fairer  to  say  that  this  attitude  seemed  to  the  Radicals  one 
more  proof  of  Cleveland's  alliance  with  the  "Money  Power,"  seen  also,  as  it 
appeared  to  them,  in  his  policy  in  the  Chicago  strike  (§  809).  Cleveland 
was  a  plodding,  patient  man  of  rugged  honesty,  and,  for  his  day,  he  was  a 
progressive  statesman,  deserving  of  more  recognition  from  radical  reformers 
than  he  received.  In  his  final  message  to  Congress,  after  his  defeat  had  put 
him  "out  of  politics,"  he  warned  the  nation  that  great  fortunes  were  no 
longer  the  result  solely  of  sturdy  industry  and  enlightened  foresight,  but 
largely  of  the  "discriminating  favor  of  the  government"  and  of  "undue 
exactions  from  the  masses  of  our  people."  After  leaving  the  Presidency,  his 
services  as  a  lawyer  were  sought  hy  great  corporations,  but  he  always  refused 
their  retainers.  No  other  president  from  Lincoln  to  Roosevelt  did  so  much 
to  arouse  a  progressive  movement  in  this  nation. 


§757] 


BRYAN  AND  MARK  HANNA 


629 


to  one,  for  the  "  unlimited  coinage  of  both  silver  and  gold  at 
the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one,"  and  nominated  Bryan  for  the 
presidency.1  A  strong  faction  of  the  party,  however,  took  the 
name  of  "  Gold  Demo 
crats"  and  nominated  a 
ticket  of  their  own.  The 
Republicans  nominated 
William  McKinley  on  a 
"  sound  money  "  platform. 
The  Democratic  cam 
paign  was  hampered  by 
lack  of  money ;  but  the 
most  was  made  of  Mr. 
Bryan's  oratory.  Candi 
dates  had  previously  taken 
small  part  in  campaign 
ing.  Mr.  Bryan  traveled 
eighteen  thousand  miles 
and  spoke  to  vast  num 
bers  of  people.  The  Re 
publican  coffers  were  sup 
plied  lavishly  by  the 
moneyed  interests  of  the 
country ;  and  the  cam 
paign  was  managed  by 

Mark  Hanna,  a  typical  representative  of  the  "  big  business " 
interests,  —  a  virile  and  very  likeable  character,  who  honestly 
believed  that  the  government  ought  to  be  "  an  adjunct  of 

1  To  men  of  conservative  tendencies  and  associations,  the  new  leader 
seemed  a  demagogue.  The  Louisville  Courier-Journal  denounced  him  as  a 
"dishonest  dodger,"  a  "daring  adventurer,"  a  "political  faker"  ;  and  the 
New  York  Tribune  reviled  him  as  "a  willing  puppet  in  the  blood-imbrued 
hands  of  revolutionists,  —  apt  at  lies  and  forgeries  and  blasphemies,  the  rival 
of  Benedict  Arnold  and  Jefferson  Davis  in  treason  to  the  Republic."  Later, 
such  Eastern  organs  tried  strenuously  to  regard  him  as  a  jest.  But  a  new  force 
had  come  into  American  life.  William  J.  Bryan,  defeated  three  times  for 
the  Presidency,  still  molded  public  opinion  during  the  coming  years  as  only 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN.    From  a 
recent  photograph. 


630  ELECTION   OF   1896  [§  757 

business,"  and  who,  his  admirers  confessed,  got  what  he  went 
after  in  politics  without  scrupulous  regard  to  means.  Work- 
ingmen  were  intimidated  by  posted  notices  that  the  factories 
would  close  if  the  Democrats  won ;  and  many  great  business 
concerns  placed  orders  with  manufacturers  with  a  provision 
for  cancellation  if  Bryan  were  elected.  This  fear  of  business 
catastrophe  (a  fear  largely  manufactured)  was  a  chief  factor  in 
the  Republican  success.  But  as  Cleveland  had  committed  the 
Democratic  party  to  tariff  reform,  so  Bryan  had  now  committed 
it  to  the  cause  of  the  masses  against  the  "  special  interests  "  and 
11  privileged"  capital. 

At  this  point  came  an  interruption  to  normal  development, 
—  the  Spanish  War  and  the  question  of  imperialism. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. —  Dewey's  National  Problems;  Paxson's  New 
Nation;  Haworth's  Reconstruction  and  Union. 

one  or  two  Presidents  have  ever  done,  until  by  1912  his  principles,  outside 
the  free  silver  heresy,  had  become  the  common  property  of  every  political  plat 
form.  Cf.  §842ff. 


CHAPTER   LXIV 

AMERICA   A   WORLD   POWER 

758.  Our  growing  commercial  interests  inspired  a  more  aggres 
sive  foreign  policy.  Three  notable  incidents  in  this  line  preceded 
the  war  with  Spain. 

a.  In  Harrison's  administration  the  energetic  Elaine  was 
Secretary  of  State.  A  cardinal  point  in  his  policy  was  to  ex 
tend  the  influence  of  the  United  States  over  Spanish  America. 
In  1889  he  brought  together  at  Washington  a  notable  Pan- 
American  Congress  which  furthered  commercial  reciprocity 
(§  743)  and  expressed  a  desire  for  standing  treaties  of  arbitra 
tion  between  all  American  nations. 

6.  For  fifty  years,  the  United  States  had  held  close  relations 
with  Hawaii.  The  islands  had  accepted  Christianity  from 
American  missionaries  ;  and  American  planters  and  merchants 
were  the  chief  element  in  a  considerable  White  population. 
American  capital,  too,  was  largely  interested  in  sugar  raising 
in  the  islands. 

The  native  government,  under  the  influence  of  English  and 
American  ideas,  had  been  brought  to  the  form  of  a  constitu 
tional  monarchy.  In  January,  1893,  a  revolution  deposed  the 
native  queen  and  set  up  a  provisional  republic.  The  leading 
spirits  of  the  new  government  were  Americans,  and  they  asked 
for  annexation  to  the  United  States.  The  United  States  min 
ister  to  the  old  government  ran  up  the  United  States  flag,  vir 
tually  declared  a  protectorate,  and  secured  a  force  of  marines 
from  an  American  vessel  in  the  harbor  to  overawe  the  natives. 

In  his  remaining  weeks  of  office,  President  Harrison  tried  to 
hurry  through  a  treaty  of  annexation ;  but  Cleveland,  on  his 
accession,  withdrew  the  treaty  from  the  Senate,  and  sent  a 
special  commissioner  to  the  islands  to  investigate.  The  report 

631 


632  A  WORLD  POWER  [§  758 

revealed  the  revolution  as  a  conspiracy,  in  which  the  American 
minister  had  taken  a  leading  part  to  overthrow  the  government 
to  which  he  was  accredited ;  and  the  provisional  republic,  it 
was  shown,  was  supported  by  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  popu 
lation.  Cleveland  attempted  to  undo  this  "flagrant  wrong" 
to  a  weak  state.  Despite  the  violent  outcry  of  opposition 
papers,  he  "hauled  down  the  American  flag."  Skillfully  in 
trenched  in  possession  by  this  time,  however,  the  republican 
government  maintained  itself,  unstably,  against  the  native 
dynasty. 

c.  For  half  a  century  an  obscure  dispute  had  dragged  along 
as  to  the  boundary  between  Venezuela  and  British  Guiana.  In 
the  eighties  gold  was  discovered,  and  English  miners  began  to 
crowd  into  the  disputed  wilderness.  By  1895  the  quarrel  was 
acute.  The  English  government  made  it  clear  to  Venezuela 
that  it  intended  to  occupy  the  territory.  Venezuela  had  already 
appealed  to  the  United  States  for  protection  ;  and  now  our  gov 
ernment  insisted  vigorously  that  England  submit  the  matter  to 
arbitration.  Lord  Salisbury,  the  English  prime  minister,,  de 
clined.  Then  President  Cleveland  electrified  the  world  by  a 
message  to  Congress  (December  17,  1895)  recommending  the 
creation  of  an  American  commission  to  determine  the  true 
boundary,  and  pointing  out  that  war  must  follow  if  England 
should  persist  in  refusing  to  accept  the  award. 

For  the  first  time  the  people  in  England  awoke  to  the  fact 
that  a  serious  quarrel  was  in  progress.  People,  press,  and 
public  men  made  clear  a  warm  friendship  for  the  United 
States  wholly  unsuspected  by  the  mass  of  Americans,1  and  it  was 
immediately  evident  that  even  the  irritating  tone  of  American 
diplomacy  could  not  arouse  a  war  feeling.  War  with  the 
United  States  on  such  an  issue,  said  Lord  Rosebery,  the  Liberal 
leader,  "  would  be  the  greatest  crime  on  record  "  ;  and  the  Con 
servative  leader  in  parliament,  Mr.  Balfour,  added  that  such  a 


1  This  aspect  of  the  affair  was  made  more  prominent  by  a  remarkable  dis 
play  a  few  weeks  later  of  war  feeling  in  England  against  Germany. 


§  759]  THE   VENEZUELA  ARBITRATION  633 

contest  would  be  invested  "  with  the  unnatural  horrors  of  civil 
war."  The  ministry  now  offered  to  accept  arbitration,  suggest 
ing,  however,  an  international  commission,  in  place  of  one  ap 
pointed  by  our  government  alone,  and  the  matter  was  so 
arranged.  The  commission  reported  in  1899,  favoring  the 
English  contention  for  the  most  part.  This  result  was  per 
fectly  satisfactory  to  the  United  States. 

The  English  ministry  now  proposed  to  the  United  States  a 
standing  treaty  for  arbitration  of  future  disputes  between  the 
two  countries.  The  treaty  was  drawn  up,  and  was  strongly 
urged  upon  the  Senate  by  President  Cleveland  and  later 
by  President  McKinley.  But  the  Senate,  now  in  a  period  of 
degradation,  preferred  to  play  politics,  and  refused  to  ratify 
this  proposal  for  an  advance  in  world  peace.1 

759.  Then  came  the  Spanish -American  War.  After  1824  (§  504), 
only  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  were  left  to  Spain  of  her  once  wide- 
lying  American  empire.  In  Cuba,  revolt  was  chronic.  Taxa 
tion  was  exorbitant ;  trade  was  shackled,  in  Spanish  interests  ; 
and  the  natives  were  despised  by  Spanish  officials.  In  1895 
the  island  was  once  more  ablaze  with  revolt,  —  organized  in 
great  measure  by  a  Cuban  Junta  in  the  United  States  and 
aided  materially  by  filibustering  expeditions  from  our  shores. 
On  both  sides  the  war  was  barbarous.  In  particular,  the  cruel 
policy  of  the  Spanish  commander,  Weyler,  caused  deadly  suffer 
ing  to  women  and  children,  gathered  into  reconcentrado  camps 
without  proper  care  or  food.  The  "  Gem  of  the  Antilles  "  was 
rapidly  turning  to  a  desert  and  a  graveyard. 

American  capitalists  had  large  interests  in  the  sugar  industry 
in  the  island,  and  used  powerful  influences,  open  and  secret, 
to  secure  American  intervention,  with  a  view  to  subsequent 
annexation  by  Congress.  Such  forces  played  skillfully  upon 
the  humanitarian  sympathies  of  the  American  people,  and  on 
our  habitual  inclination  to  aid  any  movement  on  this  continent 
for  political  independence.  In  1897  the  country  was  seething 

1  Modern  World,  §  917,  for  other  details. 


634  WAR  WITH  SPAIN  [§  760 

with  discontent  at  the  continuance  of  Spanish  rule  in  Cuba, 
and  Congress  was  eager  for  war ;  but  for  some  months  more 
President  McKinley  held  such  impulses  in  check  while  he 
tried  to  secure  satisfactory  concessions  to  Cuba  from  Spain. 

A  new  Spanish  ministry,  led  by  the  Liberal  Sagasta  (Modern 
World,  §  840)  did  recall  Weyler,  placed  the  war  upon  a 
"  civilized "  footing,  and  offered  the  Cubans  generous  con 
cessions  ;  but  a  new  situation  hurried  America  into  the  war. 
February  15,  1898,  the  American  battleship  Maine,  visiting  in 
the  Havana  harbor,  was  blown  up,  with  the  loss  of  260  of  her 
men.  The  explosion  may  have  come  from  a  submarine  mine 
operated  by  Cubans  to  produce  the  results  which  followed,  or 
the  mine  may  possibly  have  been  operated  by  a  few  Spanish 
officers.  ISTo  one  now  seriously  believes  that  the  Spanish  gov 
ernment  was  responsible.  At  the  moment,  however,  this  was 
the  almost  universal  assumption  ;  and  a  vengeful  cry  for  blood 
— Remember  the  Maine  —  reinforced  irresistibly  the  previous 
call  for  American  interference.  Congress  gave  a  solemn  pledge 
that  the  United  States  would  not  hold  Cuba  for  herself ;  and 
the  American  forces  soon  completed  the  task  of  expelling  Spain. 

760.  A  picturesque  feature  of  the  brief  four-months'  struggle 
was  the  dashing  career  of  the  "  Rough  Riders."  Officially,  this 
force  was  the  "  First  Volunteer  Eegiment  of  Cavalry."  It  was 
raised  by  Theodore  Roosevelt,  largely  from  his  old  associates 
among  ranchers  and  cowboys  in  the  West,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Eastern  foot-ball  stars.  Roosevelt  resigned  as  Assistant  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy  to  become  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  this 
regiment.  The  decisive  land-battle  of  the  war  was  fought 
stubbornly  along  the  paths  of  a  tropical  jungle  near  the  city  of 
Santiago,  July  1,  2,  and  3.  Roosevelt  marched  his  troops  all 
night,  June  30,  to  be  in  at  the  fight,  and  led  them  gallantly 
in  "  the  soldier's  charge  "  up  San  Juan  Hill  into  the  Spanish 
intrenchments.  The  fame  of  "  the  Colonel "  from  these 
achievements,  duly  "  featured  "  by  the  newspaper  men  with  the 
troops,  was  soon  to  give  a  new  turn  to  American  politics,  — 
not  the  least  of  the  results  of  the  war.  '- 


§  762]  DEWEY  AT  MANILA  635 

761 .  The  victory  of  San  Juan  made  it  impossible  for  the  Spaniards 
to  long  hold  the  harbor  of  Santiago.     They  had  collected  a  strong 
fleet  there,  to  threaten  the  sea-coast  cities  of  America,  but  it 
had  been  at  once  blockaded  by  a  stronger  American  squadron. 
Fearing  capture  by  our  land  army,  the  Spanish  fleet  now  put 
to  sea  and  scattered  in  flight.     In  the  four-hours  running  fight 
that  followed,  every    Spanish  vessel  was   sunk   or   driven   a 
blackened  wreck  on   the  shore,  every  man  dead  or   captive, 
while  no  American  vessel  was  injured  and  only  one  sailor  was 
killed. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  unfriendly  German  and  French 
naval  authorities  had  not  hesitated  to  express  their  conviction 
(and  apparently  their  hope)  that  the  Spanish  fleet  would 
quickly  drive  the  American  from  the  sea.  But  even  before 
this  famous  battle  of  Santiago,  in  a  still  more  famous  struggle 
the  American  navy  had  proven  its  superiority  in  sailing  and  in 
gunnery.  When  war  was  declared,  Commodore  George  Dewey 
was  in  command  of  a  small  squadron  on  the  coast  of  China. 
He  sailed  at  once  for  the  Philippines,  then  a  Spanish  pos 
session,  and,  on  May  1,  entered  Manila  Bay  over  mine-strewn 
waters,  destroyed  or  captured  the  Spanish  fleet  under  the  guns 
of  the  land  fortress,  and,  in  cooperation  with  native  insurgents, 
began  the  siege  of  the  city. 

762.  The  blockade  of  Manila  had  its  own  spectacular  incidents. 
Soon  after  Dewey's  naval  victory,  European  men-of-war  began 
to  gather  in  the  harbor,  —  among  them,  three  English  ships 
and  a  strong  German  squadron.     Germany  had  shown  much 
sympathy  for  Spain,  and  the  German  commander  at  Manila, 
Admiral  von  Diedrich,  now  acted  toward  the  Americans  in  a 
most  disagreeable  and  irritating  manner.     He  repeatedly  dis 
regarded  the  American  patrol  regulations,  and  finally  landed 
supplies  for  the  Spaniards  in  flat  opposition  to  the  American 
blockade.      This  brought  a  crisis.      Dewey  sent  him  a  brusque 
protest,  adding  as  the  messenger  was  setting  out,  — "  And  say 
to  Admiral  von  Diedrich  that  if  he  wants  a  fight,  he  can  have 
it  now."    In  a  rage,  von  Diedrich  hurried  to  Captain  Chichester, 


636  WAR  WITH  SPAIN  [§  763 

the  commander  of  the  English  war  ships,  and  asked  that  officer 
bluntly  whether  he  had  instructions  as  to  what  to  do  if  a  con 
flict  took  place  between  the  Germans  and  Americans.  "I 
have,"  replied  the  Briton.  "  May  I  ask  what  they  are  ?  "  in 
sisted  the  German.  "  Ah,"  drawled  Chichester,  "  only  two 
persons  here  know  that,  —  myself  and  Commodore  Dewey." 
Thereafter  von  Diedrich  was  better  mannered. 

From  the  opening  of  the  war,  it  is  now  known,  Germany  wished 
Europe  to  interfere  upon  the  side  of  Spain,  and  she  was  kept  from 
active  hostility  mainly  by  the  pronounced  friendliness  of  the  English 
government  for  America.  And  this  friendly  English  feeling  was  char 
acteristic  of  all  classes  in  that  country.  American  visitors  in  England 
during  the  war  tell  us,  often  with  amazement,  how  at  the  movies  a 
picture  of  an  American  ship  or  an  American  officer  always  brought  the 
audience  to  its  feet  in  cheers,  while  Spanish  pictures  were  signals  for 
catcalls  and  jeers. 

763.  A  chief  lesson  from  the  war  was  the  unpreparedness  and 
inefficiency  of  the  War  Department.     The  Spanish  surrender  in 
Cuba  came  none  too  soon.      A  few  days  more  would  have  seen 
the  American  army  routed  by  disease.     Medicines  were  lack 
ing  ;  transportation  was  insufficient ;  troops  were  sent  to  Cuba 
in  midsummer  clothed  in  sweltering  woolens,  with  repulsive 
"  embalmed  beef  "  as  a  large  part  of  their  food.     Red  tape  and 
mismanagement  prevented  any  improvement   even  for   some 
weeks  after  the  struggle  was  over,  until,  largely  at  Roosevelt's 
suggestion,  a  number  of  officers  joined  in  a  "  round  robin," 
making    the    disgraceful    and    dangerous    conditions    public. 
Even  at  the  recruiting  camps  in  America,  sanitation  had  been 
shamefully  neglected :  at  Tampa  and  Chickamauga,  more  sol 
diers  died  from  dysentery  than  fell  in  battle  in  Cuba. 

764.  In  the  treaty  of  peace,  Spain  left  Cuba  free,  and  ceded  to 
the  United  States  Porto  Rico,  Guam  (in  the  Ladrones),  and 
the  Philippines,  accepting  $20,000,000  in  compensation  for  the 
last.     Other  territorial  expansion,  too,  came  as  a  result  of  the 
war.     In   1897   President   McKinley  had  revived  the  treaty 
to  annex  Hawaii  (§  758).     The  necessary  two-thirds  vote  in 


§  766]  CUBA  AND   THE   PHILIPPINES  637 

the  Senate  could  not  be  secured ;  but  after  the  opening  of  the 
Spanish  War,  Congress  annexed  the  Hawaiian  Islands  by  a 
joint  resolution1  —  as  Texas  had  been  acquired  many  years 
before.  About  the  same  time,  several  small  islands  in  the 
Pacific,  not  claimed  by  any  civilized  power,  were  seized  for 
naval  and  telegraph  stations  ;  and,  in  rearrangements  at  Samoa, 
due  to  native  insurrections  and  to  conflicting  claims  by  England, 
Germany,  and  the  United  States,  this  country  secured  the 
most  important  island  in  that  group. 

In  1900  Hawaii  was  organized  as  a  "  Territory  "  on  much  the  usual  self- 
governing  plan.  Porto  Rico,  with  its  civilized  but  unfriendly  Spanish 
population,  presented  a  difficult  problem.  At  present,  the  government  con 
tains  a  representative  element,  but  real  control  rests  in  officials  appointed 
by  the  United  States. 

• 

765.  On  the  whole  the  American  pledge  to  leave  Cuba  inde 
pendent  was  honorably  kept,  though  the  Cuban  constitutional 
convention  (of  1902)  was  required  to  consent  that  the  United 
States  might  hold  points  on  the  coast  for  naval  stations  and 
should  have  the  right  to  interfere,  if  necessary,  to  save  the 
island  from  foreign  encroachment  or  domestic  convulsion. 

766.  Preceding  the  establishment  of  the  Cuban  Eepublic  by 
this  convention,  there  had  been  a  necessary  three-years  occupa 
tion  by  American  troops  under  General  Leonard  Wood. 

This  military  government  brought  great  blessings  to  the 
island.  It  established  order,  relieved  immediate  suffering, 
organized  a  permanent  and  noble  system  of  hospitals  and 
schools,  built  roads,  cleaned  up  cities,  and  created  adequate 
water  supplies.  For  the  first  time  in  140  years  Havana  was 
freed  from  yellow  fever.  In  the  course  of  this  amazing  and 
beneficent  sanitary  work  in  the  pest-ridden  island,  Major  Walter 
Reed,  a  United  States  surgeon,  proved  that  yellow  fever  is 
transmitted  by  the  mosquito  bite.  That  discovery  ranks  among 
the  foremost  achievements  of  modern  science.  There  is  no 

1  Dewey  at  Manila  was  in  want  of  reinforcements,  and  this  fact  brought 
home  to  Americans  the  need  of  naval  stations  in  the  Pacific. 


638  WAR  WITH  SPAIN  [§  767 

praise  too  warm  for  the  high  resolve  and  steadfast  heroism  — . 
unsurpassed  amid  the  horrors  of  a  battlefield  —  with  which  a 
splendid  group  of  American  officers  risked  their  lives  day  after 
day  in  that  obscure  and  baffling  struggle  against  a  disease  that 
had  long  been  a  chief  scourge  of  the  human  race. 

767.  The  Philippines  contain  115,000  square  miles,  broken  into  a 
thousand  islands.1    The  eight  million  inhabitants  range  from  primitive 
savagery  (of  the  poisoned  arrow  stage)  to  civilization,  and  speak  a  score 
of  different  tongues  and  dialects.     Five  sevenths  of  the  whole  number 
are  Catholics;  the  stalwart  Moros  are  Mohammedan;   the  "wild"  half 
million  are  divided  among  primitive  superstitions.     The   centuries  of 
Spanish  rule  have  left  much  Spanish  blood,  mixed  with  native,  in  the 
more  civilized  districts ;  and  commercial  interests  account  for  a  consider 
able  European  population  at  Manila  and  some  other  ports. 

In  189G  the  islanders  attempted  one  of  their  many  risings  against 
Spanish  rule.  The  Spanish  government  brought  it  to*  a  close  by  promis 
ing  reforms  and  paying  the  leader  Aguinaldo  to  leave  the  islands.  The 
reforms  were  not  carried  out,  and  only  a  part  of  the  promised  money  was 
paid ;  and  when  Dewey  was  about  to  attack  the  Spanish  in  the  islands, 
he  invited  Aguinaldo  to  return  with  him  from  China,  in  order  to  organize 
a  native  insurrection  to  cooperate  with  the  American  invasion.  The 
insurgents  hailed  the  Americans  as  deliverers,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  siege  and  capture  of  Manila.  Soon,  however,  the  American  com 
manders  received  instructions  from  Washington  not  to  treat  the  islanders 
as  allies,  but  to  assert  American  sovereignty  over  them.  This  led  to 
war.  After  two  years  of  regular  campaigns  against  50,000  American 
troops,  the  natives  took  to  guerrilla  warfare  —  in  which  their  ferocious 
barbarities  were  sometimes  imitated  all  too  successfully  by  the  Americans. 
In  1902  the  United  States  declared  the  "  rebellion  V  subdued. 

768.  It  was  after  much  hesitation  that  President  McKinley's 
administration  decided  to  hold  the  Philippines  as  a  dependency  — 

as  England  holds  India ;  and  the  policy  was  at  once  attacked 
vehemently  by  the  Democrats,  and  by  many  progressive 
thinkers  outside  that  party,  as  Imperialism.  The  Anti- 
imperialists  urged  that  such  a  policy  not  only  involved  bad 
faith  with  the  Filipinos,  but  that  it  contravened  the  funda- 

1  Two  thirds  of  these  are  too  small  for  habitation  ;  and  half  the  total  area 
is  comprised  in  two  islands. 


§  769]  ELECTION   OF   1900  639 

mental  principles  of  our  Declaration  of  Independence  and  that 
it  must  divert  energy  from  our  own  problems.1 

On  the  ether  hand,  the  Imperialists,  or  "Expansionists," 
insisted  that  the  United  States  could  no  longer  shirk  responsi 
bilities  as  a  world  power.  The  Filipinos,  they  said,  were  not 
fit  for  self-government ;  American  sentiment  would  not  tolerate 
returning  them  to  Spain ;  and  Dewey's  conquest  left  America 
answerable  not  only  for  the  Philippines  themselves,  but,  more 
immediately,  for  European  and  American  settlers  and  interests 
at  Manila.  These  forces  for  expansion  were  reinforced,  of 
course,  by  commercial  greed  and  gross  pride  of  power. 

769.  Imperialism  was  a  leading  issue  in  the  campaign  of  1900  ; 
but  Mr.  Bryan,  once  more  the  Democratic  candidate,  compli 
cated  the  matter  unhappily  by  forcing  into  the  Democratic 
platform  a  declaration  for  the  dying  "  16  to  1 "  cause.  Again 
the  reform  forces  were  divided.  Some  radicals  believed  in 
"expansion,"  and  others,  fearing  "imperialism,'7  feared  free 
silver  more.,  Hanna,  again  the  Eepublican  manager,  made 
skillful  use  of  returned  prosperity  under  Republican  rule, 
appealing  to  workingmen  with  the  campaign  emblem  of  "  the 
full  dinner-pail."  Mr.  McKinley  was  reflected,  with  Theodore 
Roosevelt  as  Vice  President. 

"Free  Silver"  passed  out  of  politics  after  this  campaign.  In  1890 
gold  was  discovered  in  Alaska,  and  soon  that  wild  country  was  pouring 
a  yellow  flood  into  the  mints  of  the  world  —  as  new  mines  in  South 
Africa  had  begun  to  do  a  little  earlier  still.  Between  1898  and  1904, 
three  quarters  of  a  billion  of  gold  money  was  coined  in  the  United 

1  Congress  refused  to  recognize  the  Filipinos  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  distinctly  rejecting  the  plea  that  "  the  Constitution  follows  the  flag." 
It  even  refused  to  include  the  islands  within  the  customs  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  Our  sugar  trust  and  other  protected  interests  demanded  that 
the  tariff  on  Philippine  sugar,  tobacco,  and  some  other  products  be  continued. 
In  the  main,  Congress  complied.  The  islanders  had  expected  a  free  American 
market  as  one  of  the  compensations  for  the  lack  of  independence,  and  they 
regarded  this  policy  as  gross  injustice,  savoring  of  Spanish  methods.  The 
Supreme  Court,  however,  by  a  series  of  decisions  —  usually  by  a  five-to-four 
vote  —  upheld  the  authority  of  Congress  to  rule  and  tax  these  dependencies  at 
will,  since  they  "  belong  to  "  but  are  not  "  part  of  "  the  United  States  (§  461). 


640  A  WORLD  POWER  [§  770 

States.     The  debtor  class 'could  no  longer  claim  that  the  value  of  gold 
was  appreciating. 

770.  Imperialism,  too,  is  no  longer  a  burning  question.     At  first  the 
Philippines  were  ruled  by  a  Governor-general  and  a  Commission.     These 
American  officials  gradually  introduced  a  limited  local  self-government  for 
the  more  civilized  districts,  and  in  1907  a  small  electorate  of  natives  were 
permitted  by  Congress  to  elect  a  lower  House  of  a  Philippine  Assembly 
with  slight  legislative  power.     In  1913  President  Wilson  greatly  extended 
the  appointment  of  natives  to  responsible  positions  ;  and  the  Philippine 
Government  bill  of  1916  placed  the  islands  very  nearly  in  the  position  of  a 
u  Territory. "    The  Governor  and  Vice-Governor  are  still  to  be  Americans ; 
all  other  officials  may  be  Filipinos ;   the  electorate  was  extended  some 
four-fold,  and  the  upper  House  of  the  Assembly  was  made  elective  like 
the  lower ;  and  the  Assembly  was  given  control  of  all  internal  legislation, 
subject  to  veto  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.     The  absurd  tariff 
discriminations  (note  above)  have  been  practically  removed. 

771.  The  first  fruit  of  the  new  place  of  America  as  a  World  Power 
was  the  preservation  of  China.      England  had  long  held  certain 
ports  in  that  country,  and  within  a  few  years  Germany,  France, 
and  Russia  had  begun  rapidly  to  seize  province  after  province.1 
In  1899  McKinley's  Secretary  of  State,  John  Hay?  sent  a  note 
to  all  powers  interested  in  China  urging  them  to  agree  that  no 
power  should  shut  out  the  citizens  of  other  countries  from  its 
"  sphere  of  influence  "  there.    This  "  open  door  "  policy,  though 
disliked  by  Russia  and  Germany,  already  had  the  support  of 
England,  and  it  was  favored,  of   course,  by  the   small   com 
mercial  countries.     The  forceful  statement  of   the  American 
position  just  at  that  time  had  much  to  do  with  preventing 
the  threatened  dismemberment  of   China.      After  the  Boxer 
Rising,3   some   of   the   large  European  powers  seemed  again 
about  to  take  up  their  old  policy  of    seizing  "territorial  in- 

1  Modern  World,  §§  889-891. 

2  The  greatest  American  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  —  unless  possibly  John 
Quincy  Adams  deserves  to  rank  with  him.    He  had  served  many  years  before 
as  Lincoln's  private  secretary,  and  had  afterward  held  important  diplomatic 
positions.    He  was  one  of  the  joint  authors  of  the  great  Life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  had  become  known  also  as  poet  and  novelist. 

»  Modern  World,  §  891. 


§  772]  ROOSEVELT   AND  JOHN  HAY  641 

demnities."  A  strong  protest  from  Secretary  Hay  induced 
them,  however,  to  accept  money  indemnities  instead.  The 
indemnity  paid  by  China  to  the  United  States,  it  should  be 
noted,  proved  much  too  large ;  and,  after  all  just  claimants  had 
been  paid,  the  balance  was  honorably  returned. 

In  this  matter  of  the  "  Open  Door,"  the  immediate  incentive 
of  American  policy  was  the  wish  to  prevent  the  exclusion  of 
American  trade  from  rich  Oriental  provinces  ;  but  that  policy 
fell  in  happily  with  the  interests  of  civilization  and  humanity. 
The  main  opposition  to  the  American  policy  —  in  ways  both 
secret  and  open  —  came  from  Kaiser  Wilhelm  of  Germany. 
In  a  moment  of  justifiable  irritation  at  the  German  govern 
ment's  methods,  Hay  exclaimed,  "  I  had  almost  rather  be  the 
dupe  of  China  than  the  chum  of  the  Kaiser." 

772.  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  next  force  in  our  foreign 
policy.  While  Hay  was  still  engaged  in  his  correspondence 
with  European  powers  regarding  China,  an  anarchist  murdered 
William  McKinley,  and  that  suave,  gentle,  cautious  President 
was  succeeded  by  the  impetuous,  aggressive,  positive  Roose 
velt  (§  769).  Hay,  however,  remained  Secretary  of  State.  In 
1904,  at  the  opening  of  the  war  in  the  Orient  between  Russia 
and  Japan,  Hay  obtained  pledges  from  both  countries  to  re 
spect  the  neutrality  of  China,  and  the  next  year  Roosevelt 
intervened  actively  to  bring  about  peace. 

Tlie  main  foreign  problems  of  the  Roosevelt  administration  had 
to  do  with  Central  America.  The  Latin  states  of  America  still 
need  capital  for  their  development,  and  sometimes  they  invite 
it  by  granting  foreigners  valuable  franchises  and  "  conces 
sions."  Sometimes,  too,  a  corrupt  government  sells  such 
"  concessions  "  for  far  less  than  their  value  —  to  fill  its  private 
pockets.  All  such  grants,  corrupt  or  legitimate,  are  apt  to  be 
resented  by  the  native  population,  and  are  sometimes  revoked 
by  succeeding  governments.  In  this,  and  in  many  other  ways, 
foreigners  acquire  claims  against  these  countries  which  the 
states  are  unwilling  or  unable  to  pay.  The  United  States  has 
long  taken  the  ground  that  the  use  of  national  force  to  recover 


642  A  WORLD   POWER  [§  773 

such  claims  for  a  private  citizen  is  improper.  England  has 
usually  adhered  to  the  like  policy.  But  other  powerful  nations 
have  commonly  shown  a  readiness  to  collect  such  private  debts 
for  their  citizens  by  force  or  threats  of  force. 

In  1902  ten  European  countries  had  claims,  aggregating 
some  $38,000,000,  against  Venezuela.  Castro,  President  of 
the  Republic,  defied  the  claimants.  Finally  Germany  and 
England  began  a  blockade  of  Venezuelan  ports.  Through  the 
efforts  of  Roosevelt  and  Hay,  the  blockade  was  soon  raised, 
and  the  claims  submitted  to  arbitration.1  This  process  re 
vealed  gross  padding  and  unreasonableness  in  the  claim ;  and 
the  commission  cut  the  amounts  down  to  less  than  eight 
millions.  Then,  under  pressure  from  this  country,  Venezuela 
made  provision  to  pay  this  amount. 

773.  This  last  event  has  been  said  to  create  a  "New  Monroe 
Doctrine."  Europeans  had  long  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  made  us  the  protector  of  semi-anarchic  com 
munities  against  just  claims,  then  we  must  ourselves  see  that 
such  debts  were  paid.  Roosevelt  seemed  to  assent  to  this 
doctrine.  He  took  the  ground,  in  this  dispute,  that  if  "  chronic 
wrong-doing  "  or  "  impotence  "  in  any  American  country  called 
for  intervention,  then  it  would  become  necessary  for  the  United 
States  to  "  exercise  an  international  police  power."  In  1904 
he  went  even  further,  when  he  stepped  in  to  obviate  European 
intervention  in  bankrupt  San  Domingo,  by  virtually  making 
the  United  States  the  "  receiver  "  for  that  country  in  behalf  of 
its  creditors. 

This  policy  has  been  severely  criticized  on  the  ground  that  it  encourages 
foreign  capitalists  to  engage  in  the  wildest  financial  schemes  in  South 
America,  guaranteeing  them  their  claim  through  United  States  inter 
vention.  Another  solution  of  the  whole  matter,  much  in  favor  among 
the  weaker  nations  themselves,  would  be  to  leave  all  such  claims  against 
a  government  to  arbitration  by  the  Hague  Tribunal,  and  to  let  any 

1  Thayer's  Life  of  John  Hay  reveals  the  startling  fact  that  Roosevelt  kept 
Germany  from  seizing  Venezuelan  territory  by  threat  of  instant  war  (II, 
284-288).  Koosevelt  himself  has  recently  confirmed  this  statement. 


774] 


THE  PANAMA  CANAL 


643 


capitalist  take  the  risk,  if  he  seeks  investments  in  countries  which  would 
not  regard  such  arbitration. 

774.  More  important  still  was  the  movement  for  the  Panama 
Canal.  In  1881  a  French  Panama  Canal  Company  began  work 
at  the  Isthmus,  but  eight  years  later  the  project  came  to  an  ig 
noble  end  in  financial  scandal,  with  little  to  show  for  the 
$260,000,000  expenditure.  Secretary  Elaine  (§  758)  was  then 
earnestly  desirous  of  making  the  canal  the  concern  of  the 


Copyright  by  Underwood  &  Underwood 

A  GUN  FOR  THE  PANAMA  FORTIFICATIONS,  in  the  course  of  transportation 
from  the  factory.  One  of  the  world's  biggest  16-inch  guns.  From  a 
photograph. 

United   States   government;   but   the   Clayton-Bulwer   treaty 
(§  705)  prevented. 

The  Spanish  War  brought  the  matter  forcibly  to  public  atten 
tion  again,  —  especially  when  the  battleship  Oregon,  much 
needed  to  reinforce  the  American  Atlantic  squadron,  had  to 
circle  the  Horn  to  get  to  Cuban  waters.  The  American  people 
began  to  demand  an  interoceanic  canal  under  American  control ; 
and  the  extremely  cordial  attitude  of  England  during  the  strug 
gle  made  it  easy  now  to  secure  from  her  a  waiver  of  her  rights 


644  A  WORLD  POWER  [§  775 

under  the  ancient  treaty.  In  1902  the  United  States  bought 
up  the  rights  of  the  Panama  Company.  The  government  was 
unwilling,  however,  to  undertake  so  vast  a  work  unless  it  could 
secure  sovereignty  over  a  considerable  strip  of  territory,  so  as 
to  police  the  route  effectively.  Colombia  refused  the  treaty 
urged  upon  it  by  President  Roosevelt.  The  American  govern 
ment  felt  that  it  was  being  held  up  for  unreasonable  booty. 
Two  weeks  later  an  opportune  revolution  in  the  little  republic 
separated  Panama  from  Colombia.  American  naval  forces 
were  so  disposed  as  to  assist  the  revolution  materially ;  and 
ex-President  Roosevelt  has  acknowledged  that  the  revolt  was 
directly  manipulated  from  Washington.  (Said  he  frankly  some 
years  later,  "  I  took  Panama.")  The  new  Panama  Republic 
immediately  made  the  necessary  cession  to  the  United  States. 

The  canal  was  now  undertaken  as  a  National  project.  As 
tounding  problems  of  labor,  sanitation,  supplies,  and  engineer 
ing  were  solved  effectively,  and  in  1915  the  Canal  was  formally 
opened. 

775.  The  United  States  took  a  creditable  part  at  the  Hague  Con 
ference  in  1899 l  and  at  the  second  meeting  in  1907.  During  the 
years  1903-1905  thirty-three  separate  treaties  between  various 
European  powers  provided  for  arbitration  of  international  dif 
ferences  by  the  Hague  Tribunal  or  some  other  standing  com 
mission.  In  1904  ten  such  treaties  negotiated  by  Secretary 
Hay  with  important  countries  were  submitted  to  our  Senate 
for  ratification,  with  the  strong  indorsement  of  President 
Roosevelt.  The  Senate,  influenced  by  general  factiousness  and 
by  dislike  of  the  strenuous  President,  rendered  the  treaties 
useless  by  unacceptable  amendments,  as  it  had  rejected  the 
earlier  proposal  of  like  character  between  England  and  the 
United  States  (§  758).  Some  like  treaties  were  afterward 
ratified,  but  during  the  sessions  of  1911  and  1912,  the  Senate 
showed  marked  hostility  to  another  extension  of  the  principle 
of  arbitration  strongly  urged  by  President  Taft. 

i  Modern  World,  §  917. 


§  775]  ARBITRATION  645 

The  absence  of  Germany's  name  from  all  these  lists  of  arbi 
tration  treaties,  and  her  defeat  of  England's  proposals  for 
disarmament  at  the  Hague  Congresses  (Modern  World)  were 
ominous  of  peril  to  the  peace  movement.  All  these  treaties, 
too,  leave  loopholes  for  passion  and  war  by  exempting 
from  arbitration  questions  "affecting  the  national  honor." 
But  in  1913-1914,  Mr.  Bryan,  as  Secretary  of  State  for 
President  Wilson,  secured  the  ratification  of  treaties  "  further 
to  promote  peace"  with  England  and  France,  and  with 
many  smaller  states,  providing  in  each  case  that  the  two 
parties  shall  submit  all  disputes  to  an  impartial  tribunal  for 
investigation  and  report,  with  a  year's  interval  for  negotiation 
and  reflection,  before  making  war. 

FOR  FURTHER  READING. — Either  Paxson's  New  Nation  or  Bassett's 
Short  History  of  the  United  States  gives  a  good  treatment  of  the  topics  of 
this  chapter.  More  detail  on  some  of  them  may  be  found  in  Fish's 
American  Diplomacy  or  in  Thayer's  Life  of  John  Hay. 


CHAPTER   LXV 

THE  PEOPLE    VS.  PRIVILEGE 

The  fundamental  division  of  powers  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  is  between  voters  on  the  one  hand  and  property  owners  on  the  other. 
The  forces  of  democracy,  on  one  side,  divided  between  the  executive  and 
the  legislature,  are  set  over  against  the  forces  of  property  on  the  other 
side,  with  the  judiciary  as  arbiter  between  them.  —  ARTHUR  T.  HADLEY, 
of  Yale,  in  The  Independent,  April  16,  1908. 

776.  ABOUT  1890,  social  unrest  was  becoming  the  most  marked 
feature  of  American  life.  The  "  business  age  "  since  the  Civil 
War  had  seen  wealth  multiply  enormously ;  but  that  wealth 
had  become  more  and  more  concentrated  in  a  few  hands,  and 
those  hands  more  and  more  dominated  politics  and  the  daily  life 
of  every  citizen.  In  nearly  every  State  of  the  Union,  in  the 
late  sixties  and  the  seventies,  groups  of  keen,  forceful  men, 
more  farsighted  than  their  neighbors,  grasped  for  themselves 
the  main  resources  and  opportunities,  —  mines,  forests,  water 
power,  lines  of  easy  rail  communication,  and  so  on.  These 
rising  capitalists  then  reached  out  for  special  privileges.  To 
obtain  these,  they  set  themselves  deliberately  to  fill  legisla 
tures,  courts,  and  governors'  chairs  with  their  creatures,  and 
to  intrench  themselves  behind  laws  framed  for  their  advantage. 
The  old  forms  of  popular  government  were  untouched  ;  but  the 
people  had  let  real  mastery  in  city,  State,  and  Nation  slip  to 
a  narrow  plutocracy,  which  fed  fat  at  the  general  expense  and 
made  the  "representatives"  of  the  public  its  private  errand 
boys. 

The  modern  industrial  organization  of  labor  produces  wealth 
with  gratifying  rapidity,  but  fails  to  distribute  it  well.1  Amer- 

1  Between  1860  and  1900  the  ratio  of  wealth  to  population  (per  capita  wealth) 
was  magnified  by  four,  but  the  average  workman  was  not  four  times  better 

646 


§  777]  A  BUSINESS  AGE  647 

ica  is  rich,  but  too  many  Americans  are  horribly  poor.  And  this 
modern  poverty  is  harder  to  bear  than  that  of  colonial  times 
because  it  seems  less  necessary.  Then  there  was  little  wealth 
to  divide.  Now  the  poor  man  is  jostled  by  ostentatious  afflu 
ence  marked  by  wasteful  and  sometimes  vicious  expenditure. 
Moreover,  in  the  early  day,  when  no  man  was  very  rich  anyway, 
there  was  always  one  lever  within  reach  to  help  lessen  the  in 
equalities,  —  namely,  free  land  at  every  man's  door.  Since 
1800  this  condition  has  been  more  remote,  —  appertaining  to  a 
distant  frontier.  Since  1890  it  has  disappeared  from  American 
life. 

777.  Combination  in  the  management  of  industry  follows  naturally 
from  modern  facilities  like  the  railway  and  telegraph.  It  makes  possible 
the  use  of  costlier  machinery,  utilizes  former  wastes  into  by-products, 
and  saves  labor  of  hand  and  brain.  This  ought  to  mean  a  cooperative 
saving  for  all:  in  actual  fact,  it  has  meant  too  often  a  monopoly  privilege  of 
plunder  for  a  few.  The  problem  of  the  age  is  to  secure  the  proper  gains 
of  inevitable  and  wholesome  combination  and  at  the  same  time  to  restore 
to  the  individual  his  industrial  and  political  liberty.  For  a  genera 
tion  after  the  war  that  freed  the  slave,  moral  enthusiasm  had  small 
place  in  politics.  Commercialism  held  the  reins.  New  evils  grew 
upon  the  life  of  the  people  with  little  check,  so  long  as  they  threw  no 
immediate  obstacles  in  the  path  of  "prosperity's"  chariot  wheels. 
But  about  1890  a  new  tide  of  moral  earnestness  began  to  swell  in  Ameri 
can  life,  comparable  only  with  that  which  marked  the  days  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Again  the  people  heard  the  call  to  line  up  in  a  struggle  for 

off —  nor,  indeed,  the  average  employer.  According  to  the  careful  investiga 
tion  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  the  average  workingman  was  only  a  fourth  better 
off,  while  great  multitudes  were  vastly  worse  off.  Nine  tenths  the  vast  in 
crease  of  wealth  went  to  one  tenth  the  population,  while  at  least  two  tenths 
of  the  people  were  reduced  to  a  stage  of  poverty  where  health  and  decency  are 
imperiled.  (For  some  details,  see  American  History  and  Government,  §  444.) 
The  tenth  at  the  apex  of  the  social  pyramid  contains  real  "  captains  of  indus 
try,"  but  it  contains  also  pirates  and  parasites.  Service  to  society  has  less 
to  do  with  its  revenues  than  plunder  and  privilege  have.  The  two  tenths  at 
the  base  of  the  pyramid  contain  many  men  whose  poverty  results  from  physi 
cal  or  mental  or  moral  lack  (though  these  qualities  are  quite  as  often  a  result 
of  poverty  as  a  cause) ;  but  it  contains  also  multitudes  of  willing,  hard 
working,  sober  men  and  women  who  deserve  a  chance,  now  denied,  at  decent, 
useful,  happy  lives. 


648 


THE  PEOPLE    VS.  PRIVILEGE 


[§778 


Social  Justice  against  Vested  Wrong  and  Special  Privilege,  which,  like 
the  Slave  Power,  reaped  where  they  had  not  sown.  The  Nation  awoke 
shamed  ;  but  it  awoke  in  the  dark,  enmeshed  in  a  net  of  intangible 
chains,  and  found  itself  for  a  time  curiously  unable  to  .grapple  with  its 
enemy.  The  struggle  is  best  seen  in  the  story  of  the  Railroads,  of  the 
Trusts,  and  of  Political  Corruption. 


Courtesy  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company. 

FORGING  A  RAILWAY  CAR  AXLE,  at  the  Howard  Axle  Works,  Homestead, 
Pa.  The  drop-hammer,  about  to  strike  upon  the  white-hot  axle,  weighs 
three  and  a  half  tons,  and  is  one  of  fourteen  such  hammers  in  these  works. 


I.    KAILROADS 

778.  In  the  ?70's,  railway  construction  (§  728)  had  outrun 
the  real  business  demand,  and  the  roads  were  driven  to  fero 
cious  and  ruinous  competition.  In  '73  came  a  "  panic,"  prop 
erly  known  as  a  "  railroad  panic."  Railroad  presidents  explained 
it  on  this  ground  of  over-investment ;  but  another  cause,  at  least 
as  important,  was  over-capitalization.  The  operating  companies 
really  were  poor;  but  the  men  ivho  had  built  the  roods,  and 


§  779]  WATERED  STOCK  649 

"inside"  manipulators  like  the  Goulds  and  Vanderbilts,  had 
become  fabulously  rich.  Often  they  had  put  in  practically  no 
money,  —  building  the  roads  from  National  or  State  grants,1 
or  with  money  borrowed  by  bond  sales,  secured  on  the  future 
road.  Then  they  had  sold  stock,  to  any  amount  which  they 
could  persuade  a  credulous  public  to  buy,  pocketing  the  mil 
lions  of  proceeds,  and  leaving  the  corporations  upon  which  they 
had  "  unloaded  "  to  extort  in  rates  from  the  people  the  interest 
not  only  on  the  legitimate  investment,  but  also  on  this  "  water." 

779.  Excursus  :  "  Watered  Stock."  —  When  the  stock  and  bonds  of 
a  corporation  equal  the  money  actually  invested,  the  value  is  fully  "capi 
talized."  To  make  the  legitimate  investment  "pay,"  it  must  secure  an 
income  sufficient  to  pay  running  expenses  and  good  interest  on  this  capi 
talization,  and  also  to  set  aside  a  fair  amount  to  cover  "depreciation" 
(as  in  the  wearing  out  of  engines  or  their  passing  out  of  use  because 
of  better  inventions).  Whenever  more  capital  is  put  into  improvements, 
it  is  proper  for  a  board  of  directors  to  sell  more  stock  or  to  issue  more 
bonds,  representing  the  increased  value.  But  to  sell  stock  or  bonds 
upon  an  old  investment  already  fully  capitalized  is  to  dilute  values  im 
properly.  This  is  a  fraud  upon  either  the  purchasers  or  the  public,  — 
usually  the  latter,  since  it  is  compelled  to  pay  interest  on  this  "water." 

The  public-service  corporations,  such  as  railroads  and  city  gas  com 
panies,  have  peculiar  facilities  for  selling  such  over-issues  of  stock  be 
cause  of  the  monopoly  privilege  conferred  upon  them  by  society.  Indeed, 
"watered  stock1'  upon  which  dividends  can  really  be  paid,  represents 
monopoly,  natural  or  artificial.  Whenever  dividends  become  so  large  as 

1  Before  1873,  more  than  150  millions  of  acres  had  been  granted  to  railroads 
out  of  the  public  domain  (about  as  much  as  passed  to  settlers  under  the  Home 
stead  Act  up  to  1900;  map,  p.  595),  besides  lavish  "bounties"  paid  by  rival 
towns  along  possible  routes.  In.  1872  every  party  platform  demanded  that 
such  grants  cease.  President  Cleveland's  first  Message  (1885)  dwelt  upon 
the  shamelessness  with  which  the  nation's  "princely  grants  "  for  public  uses 
had  been  "diverted  to  private  gains  and  corrupt  uses,"  and  Congress  then  en 
forced  the  forfeiture  to  the  government  of  many  million  acres,  for  non-fulfill 
ment  of  contracts  by  the  companies.  The  worst  offenders,  however,  could  no 
longer  be  reached.  When  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington  (one  of  the  magnates  who  had 
wrung  vast  fortunes  out  of  Pacific  railroad  manipulations  )  was  told  that  the 
government  would  take  possession  of  his  road  if  he  failed  still  to  keep  his  con 
tracts,  he  answered  callously:  "Quite  welcome.  There  is  nothing  left  but 
two  streaks  of  rust." 


650  THE  PEOPLE    VS.   PRIVILEGE  [§780 

to  incur  danger  from  popular  indignation  (say  12  per  cent),  it  has  been 
the  practice  of  public-service  corporations  to  disguise  their  profits  by 
issuing  more  stock  (each  holder  receiving  perhaps  two  shares  for  one). 
The  company  then  claims  the  right  to  charge  enough  to  pay  a  "  reason 
able"  dividend  of  at  least  6  per  cent  upon  this  "water,"  urging  espe 
cially  the  rights  of  "widows  and  orphans  "  who  have  acquired  stock  by 
innocent  purchase.  Such  dividends  represent  an  unreasonable  tax  upon  the 
community,  including  multitudes  of  other  widows  and  orphans,  who  are  forced 
to  pay  higher  prices  for  almost  all  commodities.  Until  quite  lately,  little 
attempt  was  made  to  prevent  stock-watering,  and  public  control  is  not 
yet  efficient.  In  general,  when  the  "water"  has  once  been  marketed, 
the  courts  have  protected  the  corporations  in  their  claims  to  dividend- 
paying  rates. 

780.  In  the  five  years  following  the  panic  of  '73,  half  the 
railway  mileage  in  the  country  was  sold  under  the  hammer  or 
passed  into  the  hands  of  "  receivers."     This  condition  gave  spe 
cial  opportunity  for  strong  lines  to  absorb  weak  ones,  and  ex 
plains  the  rapid  consolidation  of  that  period  (§  728).      That 
consolidation  put  an  end  to  the  worst  of  the  old  cut-throat 
competition  for  freight  business.     Still  further  to  prevent  rate- 
wars,  the  roads  within  a  given  territory  (as  between  Chicago 
and  New  York)  adopted  the  plan,  about  1880,  of  throwing  all  earn 
ings  into  a  common  "  pool,"  to  be  divided  according  to  a  set  ratio. 
This  device  restored  the  railroad  to  its  natural  place  as  a 
monopoly. 

781.  True,  with  the  swelling  of  business,  freight  rates  con 
tinued  to  fall 1  —  but  not  so  fast  as  did  the  cost  of  transportation, 
because  of  bigger  engines,  larger  train-loads,  and  longer  hauls. 
The  public  did  not  get  its  share  of  the  saving.     Railway  profits 
rose  so  as  to  permit  high  dividends  upon  the  watered  stock, 
even  after  wasteful  management. 

1  In  1865  the  average  rate  for  one  ton  one  mile  was  about  2  cents.  By 
1877,  it  was  1?  cents,  and  in  1900  only  |  of  a  cent.  But  in  spite  of  these  low 
averages,  many  localities  paid  much  higher  rates.  Moreover,  long  hauls,  as 
in  carrying  Montana  cattle  to  Chicago,  or  Kansas  wheat  to  New  York,  cost  so 
much  less  than  small  local  business  that  the  roads  made  huge  profits  at  the 
lowest  rates  — while  even  those  "low  "  rates  confiscated  the  inland  farmer's 
profits. 


§  782]        PUBLIC  REGULATION  OF  RAILROADS  651 

In  fixing  rates  for  localities  where  one  road  controlled  the 
freight  business,  the  maxim  early  became  "  all  the  traffic  will 
bear." l  The  road,  existing  by  virtue  of  a  franchise  from  the 
people,  and  sometimes  built  by  other  gifts  from  the  people, 
extorted  from  the  people  all  their  surplus  profits  above  what 
it  seemed  advisable  to  leave  them  in  order  to  induce  them  to 
go  on  producing  more  freight.  Roads  used  their  power,  too,  to 
destroy  one  city  and  build  up  another,  sometimes  perhaps  to 
give  a  chance  to  those  "  on  the  inside  "  for  profits  in  real  estate. 
Often  they  favored  large  cities  at  the  expense  of  small  ones,  and 
gave  lower  rates  to  large  shippers  than  to  small  ones. 

This  last  and  worst  abuse  was  secret,  and  the  companies  were  some 
times  the  unwilling  victims  themselves.  To  get  the  business  of  great  ship 
pers,  they  felt  compelled  to  submit  to  demands  for  secret  rates  ;  and  some 
times  they  even  favored  such  a  shipper  by  imposing  a  particularly  high  rate 
upon  a  competing  shipper.  At  one  time  the  growing  Standard  Oil 
Company  ordered  a  railway  to  "give  another  twist  to  the  screw"  upon 
a  rival  oil  company  which  it  desired  to  put  out  of  business. 

782.  For  long  the  intense  desire  for  railway  advantages  pre 
vented  attempts  at  public  regulation  of  these  abuses.  The  region 
northwest  of  Chicago  and  west  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  sixties 
and  seventies  was  peculiarly  the  creation  of  the  railway. 
While  these  communities  were  in  their  hopeful  youth,  they 
had  eagerly  offered  every  possible  inducement  to  railway  pro 
moters,  often  unwisely.  Later,  especially  in  periods  of  busi 
ness  depression,  they  began  to  feel  keenly  the  mastery  of  the 
railway  over  them  and  their  fortunes,  and  to  agitate  against  it. 

In  the  early  seventies,  over  the  Northwest  there  sprang  up 
organizations  of  farmers  calling  themselves  "  Patrons  of  Hus 
bandry,"  2  or  Grangers,  to  do  away  with  unfair  railway  dis 
crimination  and  unduly  high  rates.  They  held  the  railway  a 

1  In  1885  a  committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  asserted  that  railroad 
rates  generally  were  based,  not  on  cost  of  service,  but  on  "  what  the  traffic 
would  bear." 

2  Each  local  organization  was  a  "Grange."    It  was  a  farmers'  club;  the 
men  talked  politics  at  the  meetings,  while  the  women  got  a  picnic  supper 
ready.     These    "granges"    were   federated    in    State   organizations.     The 


652  THE  PEOPLE    VS.   PRIVILEGE  [§  783 

quasi-public  business,  subject  to  public  regulation  through  legis 
lation,  as  the  ferryboat  and  inn  had  been  regarded  for  centuries 
by  the  Common  Law ;  and  under  their  impulse  several  States 
fixed  freight  rates  by  law.  In  1871  Illinois  took  the  wise 
method  of  appointing  a  State  Railway  Commission  to  fix  rates 
and  prevent  discriminations.  This  example  was  soon  followed 
throughout  the  West  and  Southwest,  and  much  other  restric 
tive  legislation  was  adopted. 

The  railways,  and  the  Eastern  bondholders  whose  money 
had  largely  built  them,  railed  at  all  such  legislation,  not  merely 
as  unwise  but  as  wicked  and  confiscatory.  The  railway,  they 
held,  was  a  private  business ;  and  legislatures  had  no  more 
right  to  fix  its  rates  than  to  fix  the  price  at  which  a  store 
should  sell  shoes.  In  1877,  however,  in  a  famous  decision 
(Munn  vs.  Illinois)  the  Supreme  Court  declared  that  such 
institutions  as  railways  and  warehouses  existed  subject  to  the 
power  of  the  body  politic  to  regulate  them  for  the  public  good. 
American  law  took  a  great  step  forward  in  this  decision.  And 
it  came  about  because  the  disorderly,  debtor,  relatively  ignorant 
West,  under  the  pressure  of  its  needs,  had  seen  further  than 
the  cultured,  wealthy,  comfortable  East. 

783.  Much  of  the  Granger  legislation  was  unreasonable.  The  legis 
lators  were  largely  untrained,  ignorant  men  ;  and  they  worked  in  the 
dark  anyway  because  the  railways  refused  to  make  public  any  information 
about  the  business.  Sometimes,  too,  the  legislation  was  infused  with  a 
bitter  desire  for  retaliation.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Companies  fought 
the  most  proper  regulation  by  despicable  methods.  They  bulldozed  timid 
business  interests  by  ceasing  railway  extension,  or  threatening  to  cease 
it ;  and  when  a  law  had  been  enacted  they  commonly  kept  it  ineffective 
by  getting  repeated  delays  in  the  courts  from  judges  whom,  in  many  cases, 
they  had  influenced  by  political  support  or  by  free  passes  and  other  dis 
graceful  favors.  Most  of  the  Granger  laws  were  finally  repealed.  Rail 
way  commissions,  however,  are  now  found  in  almost  every  State,  with 
authority  at  least  to  investigate  charges  and  give  publicity  to  facts  about 
the  railroad  business. 

Grangers  were  the  first  workingman's  party  outside  the  cities.  The  whole 
movement  is  admirably  treated,  briefly,  in  Paxson's  New  Nation,  66-72;  and 
some  of  the  paragraphs  in  that  treatment  are  summarized  here. 


§  786]  PASSES  AND  REBATES  653 

784.  Next  came  attempts  at  National  control.     From  the  first, 
one  argument  against  the  Granger  State  laws  had  been  that 
only  Congress  had  the  right  to  regulate  interstate  commerce  — 
and  nearly  all  railway  business  came  under  this  head.     In  1886 
the  Supreme  Court  took  this  ground  in  a  sweeping  decision, 
declaring  that  a  State  could  not  regulate  the  carriage  of  goods 
billed  to  another  State  even  for  that  part  of  the  journey  within 
its  own  borders.      This  put  an  end  to  effective  regulation  of 
railroads  by  the  States,  but  it  did  not  affect  the  previous  deci 
sion  that  the  public  had  the  right  through  some  agency  to  control 
these  "  common  carriers." 

The  only  remaining  agency  was  Congress.  So  far  that  body 
had  refused  to  act ;  but  now  (1887)  it  passed  the  Interstate  Com 
merce  Act,  forbidding  pooling,  secret  rates,  and  all  kinds  of 
discriminations.  The  law  also  created  a  Commission  to  in 
vestigate  complaints  and  punish  offenses  by  the  roads. 

785.  This  Interstate  Commerce  Act  promised  a  better  day. 
The  roads,  however,  persistently  evaded  or  disobeyed  the  law, 
and  its  main  intent  was  soon  nullified  by  decisions  of  the  courts. 
Congress  meant  to  make  the  Commission  the  final  authority 
as  to  facts,  leaving  to  the  Federal  courts  only  a  power  to  review 
the  decisions,  on  appeals,  as  to  their  reasonableness,  the  facts 
being  taken  as  the  Commission  had  determined  them.     The 
courts,  however,  determined  to  permit  the  introduction  of  new 
evidence  on  such  appeals.     This  meant  a  new  trial  in  every 
case,  and  destroyed  the  character  of   the  Commission.     The 
Commission   was   hampered,  too,  by   other   decisions   of  the 
courts  —  as  by  one  which  set  aside  its  authority  to  compel  the 
companies  to  produce  their  books.     As  the  veteran   Justice 
Harlan  declared  indignantly,  in  a  dissenting  opinion,  the  Com 
mission  was  "shorn  by  judicial  interpretation  of  authority  to  do 
anything  of  effective  character."     In  1898  the  Commission  itself 
formally  declared  its  position  "  intolerable." 

786.  In  Roosevelt's  administration  the  Hepburn  Act  (1906) 
sought  to  revive  the  authority  of  the  Commission,  empowering 
it  even  to  fix  "  just  and  reasonable  rates,"  subject  to  review  by 


654 


THE  PEOPLE  AND  THE   RAILROADS 


[§786 


the  Federal  courts.1  The  law  also  forbade  roads  (1)  to  grant 
free  passes,  (2)  give  "rebates"  (partial  repayments),  or 
(3)  carry  their  own  produce. 

a.  Lavish  grants  of  passes,  good  for  a  year,  and  renewed 
each  New  Year,  extending  sometimes  to  free  travel  across  the 
continent  and  back,  had  been  one  of  the  most  common  means 


THE  BIGGEST  ELECTRIC  LOCOMOTIVE.  The  railroads  have  kept  pace  with 
other  industries  in  material  development.  The  electric  locomotive  here 
pictured  is  one  of  forty-two  that  haul  passengers  and  freight  over  the  great 
Continental  Divide,  in  Montana.  It  weighs  282  tons,  and  can  haul  3200 
tons  (six  and  a  half  million  pounds)  up  a  one  per  cent  grade  at  16  miles  an 
hour ;  or,  geared  for  higher  speed,  it  can  pull  a  passenger  train  of  800  tons 
on  a  level  at  a  mile  a  minute. 

of  indirect  bribery  of  legislators,  congressmen,  and  newspapers. 
Sometimes  a  judge  traveled  on  such  a  pass  to  the  court  where 
he  tried  cases  in  which  the  railroad  was  a  party.  Apart  from 

1  In  1910  all  such  appeals  were  referred  to  a  new  Commerce  Court  created 
especially  to  deal  with  them.  Radicals  looked  askance  at  this  new  court, 
whose  members  were  all  appointed  at  once  for  life  by  the  conservative  Presi 
dent  Taft,  and  the  feeling  was  soon  justified.  The  Commerce  Court  hampered 
and  harassed  the  great  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  in  1913  it  was 
abolished.  (Cf.  §447,  note.)  Shortly  before,  Justice  Archbold,  one  of  its 
members,  had  been  removed  for  graft,  by  impeachment.  Cf .  §  450. 


§  786]  PASSES  AND  REBATES  655 

the  corrupting  influence  of  the  practice,  too,  the  public  had  of 
course  to  pay  for  the  passes  in  higher  rates.  In  this  matter 
Congressional  prohibition  was  preceded  by  similar  prohibition 
in  many  of  the  States  ;  and  this  reform  is  now  firmly  established. 

b.  Rebates  had  long  been  one  of  the  chief  methods  of  evad 
ing   the   Interstate    Commerce    law  against  discriminations. 
Certain  favored  shippers,  no  longer   given  better  rates  than 
their  neighbors  directly,  were  still  given  secret  rebates  in  coin, 
or,  still  less  directly,  were  allowed  to  falsify  their  billing  of 
freight,  so  as  to  come  under  a  lower  legal  rate,  or  were  paid 
unreasonable  allowances  for  storing  or  handling  freight  them 
selves,  or  for  the  rent  of  private  cars  furnished  by  the  custom 
ers.     The  receivers  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Road  in  1898 
testified  that  more  than  half  the  freight  of  the  country  was  still 
carried  on  discriminating  rates.    Says  Professor  Davis  R.  Dewey 
(National  Problems,  103) :  "  The  ingenuity  of  officials  in  break 
ing  the  spirit  of  the  law  knew  no  limit  and  is  a  discouraging 
commentary  on  the  dishonesty  which  had  penetrated  to  the  heart 
of  business  enterprise  "  ;  and  one  of  the  great  railroad  presidents 
mourned,  in  1907,  that  good  faith  had  "  departed  from  the  rail 
road  world."     When  company  and  shipper  agree  in  trying  to 
deceive  the  authorities  in  such  a  matter,  proof  is  exceedingly 
difficult ;  and  it  is  too  much  to  suppose  that  the  more  stringent 
provisions  of  the  Hepburn  Act  have  wholly  done  away  with 
this  demoralizing  practice. 

c.  Certain  Pennsylvania  Roads  owned  the  most  important 
coal  mines  in   the  country,  and  paid  themselves  what  they 
pleased,  out  of  one  pocket  into  another,  for  carrying  coal  to 
market,  —  so  excusing  themselves  for  a  higher  price  to  the  con 
sumer.     The  last  prohibition  referred  to  above  (3)  attempted  to 
stop  this  practice.    So  far,  the  attempt  is  fruitless.    The  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  mines  iron  in  northern  Minnesota. 
In  deference  to  the  Hepburn  Act  the  Corporation  is  not  also  a 
railroad  corporation ;  but  the  same  group  of  capitalists  under 
another  name  own  railroads  (on  the  "  community  of  interest " 
method)  which  carry  the  ore  to  market  at  extravagant  rates. 


656  BIG  BUSINESS  MONOPOLY  [§  787 

787.  This  struggle  with  the  railroads  has  gone  on  now  for  two 
generations.     Much  time  was  lost  because,  for  long,  many  people  hoped 
that  rates  could  be  kept  down  if  only  free  competition  could  be  maintained 
between  rival  roads.     But  when  pooling  was  forbidden   (§  784),  the 
roads  sought  refuge  in  secret  "rate  agreements"  among  themselves; 
and  when  the  Supreme  Court  in  1897  held  such  an  "agreement"  a 
"conspiracy  in  restraint  of  trade"   (and,  as  such,  forbidden  by  the 
Sherman  Anti-trust  Act  of  1890),  they  merely  consolidated  ownership 
more  rapidly  than  had  ever  before  been  dreamed  possible  (§  728).     In 
1904  the  Supreme  Court  made  a  futile  effort  to  stop  this  movement 
by  declaring  the  consolidation  of  parallel  lines  illegal  (Northern  Secur 
ities  Case)  under  the  same  Anti-trust  Act.    But,  once  more,  combination 
to  avoid  competition  was  merely  driven  to  another  disguise.     The  groups 
of  capitalists  no  longer  consolidated  the  stock  of  different  companies  into 
one,  with  one  board  of  directors  ;  but  they  exchanged  among  themselves 
the  stock  of  the  different  companies  which  they  controlled,  and  member 
ships  in  the  different  governing  boards,  and  so  maintained  a  community 
of  ownership  and  management.    In  1913,  in  the  administration  of  Woodrow 
Wilson,  an  attempt  was  made  to  limit  by  law  the  memberships  on  such 
boards  to  be  held  by  any  one  man. 

Before  America  had  been  in  the  World  War  a  year  it  was  plain  that 
consolidation  of  management  had  not  gone  far  enough  to  secure  efficient 
service  for  the  public.  The  waste  and  the  delays  due  to  lack  of  unity 
in  transportation  became  a  national  menace.  The  whole  country,  rail 
way  corporations  included,  breathed  more  freely  when  President  Wilson 
seized  control  for  the  Nation,  with  one  central  authority.  What  will  be 
done  with  the  roads  after  the  war,  no  one  can  now  (1918)  say ;  but  we 
may  be  sure  the  country  will  not  return  to  the  evils  of  separate  management. 

II.    "BIG  BUSINESS" 

788.  The  people  have  the  task  also  of  learning  to  control  other  kinds 
of  monopolies  besides  railroads.    Ownership  of  a  water  power  or  of  a 
mine  is  a  natural  monopoly.    More  and  more  the  feeling  grows  that  society 
should  own  such  monopolies.    Another  slightly  different  sort  of  monopoly 
is  represented  by  certain  kinds  of  business,  like  railroads  or  city  lighting, 
where  competition  is  either  altogether  impossible,  or  where  at  least 
it  would  be  excessively  silly  and  wasteful.     Sometimes,  in  such  cases, 
the  government  grants  an  exclusive  franchise  to  some  company,  and  so 
creates  a  legal  monopoly.    In  any  case,  these   forms  of  business  are 
usually  classed  with  the  "natural  monopolies,"  since  they  are  monopo 
listic  "in  the  nature  of  the  case."    They  derive  their  existence,  how- 


§  789]  STANDARD  OIL  657 

ever,  not  from  nature  alone  but  directly  from  some  franchise  grant  &j> 
society;  and  so  they  are  even  more  generally  looked  upon  as  suitable  for 
control  by  society. 

But  modern  "  Big  Business  "  creates  a  still  different  sort  of  monopoly. 
A  great  manufacturing  "trust"  calls  for  so  much  capital  that  a  com 
petitor  can  hardly  afford  to  try  to  build  factories  and  secure  machinery, 
with  the  uncertainties  of  the  certain  commercial  war  before  it.  If  the 
attempt  is  made,  the  stronger  enterprise  kills  off  the  other,  if  necessary 
by  selling  below  cost,  —  recouping  itself  afterward  by  plundering  the 
public  when  it  again  has  the  market  to  itself.  This  kind  of  monopoly 
is  recent,  and  in  outer  form  it  resembles  the  competitive  business  of 
former  days.  Society  awakened  only  slowly  to  the  need  of  regulating  it 
effectively  for  the  common  good.  Even  to-day  such  combinations  are 
sheltered  from  public  control,  and  sometimes  from  public  investigation, 
by  the  legal  principles  of  an  outgrown  age  of  individualism. 

789.  The  first  famous  illustration  of  this  sort  of  monopoly 
was  the  Standard  Oil  Trust.  Crude  petroleum  ("  rock  oil ")  had 
been  used  for  many  years  as  a  liniment  ("  Seneca  Oil "),  and 
about  1860  it  began  to  be  used,  in  a  refined  form,  for  illumina 
tion  in  place  of  the  older  "  whale  oil."  Companies  were  soon 
formed  to  produce  and  refine  it  on  a  large  scale. 

In  1865  the  Standard  Oil  Company  was  organized  in  Cleve 
land  with  a  capital  of  only  $100,000.  Under  the  skillful 
management  of  John  D.  Rockefeller  it  soon  began  to  absorb 
the  other  like  companies  in  that  city  —  which  was  already  the 
center  of  the  industry  of  refining  crude  petroleum.  Thus  it 
grew  powerful  enough,  and  its  management  was  unscrupulous 
enough,  to  compel  railway  companies  to  set  up  secret  dis 
criminations  for  it,  and  against  its  rivals  (§  781),  until  it 
absorbed  or  killed  off  most  of  the  oil  companies  in  the  country. 
In  1870  the  Standard  Oil  was  one  of  250  competing  companies, 
and  its  output  was  less  than  one  twentieth  the  whole  :  in  1877 
it  controlled  nineteen  twentieths  the  output,  and  of  the  few 
remaining  companies  the  leading  forty  were  "  affiliated,"  and 
took  orders  from  it.  By  grossly  unfair  and  piratical  methods 
it  had  made  broken  men  or  suicides  of  honest  competitors.  A 
powerful  lobby  long  prevented  legislative  interference,  and  the 
Standard  Oil  attorneys  were  generally  successful  in  the  courts. 


658  TRUSTS  [§  790 

Meantime  its  capital  had  been  increased  to  90  millions  —  on 
which  it  paid  the  enormous  dividend  of  20  millions  of  dollars. 
A  few  independent  companies,  however,  were  still  putting 
up  so  stiff  a  fight  that  a  closer  organization  seemed  needful  to 
insure  success  for  the  monopoly ;  and,  in  1882,  Rockefeller 
invented  the  "trust."  The  forty  affiliated  companies  turned 
over  their  property  to  one  board  of  nine  trustees,  each  stock 
holder  in  an  old  company  receiving  proper  certificates  of  stock 
in  the  new  organization.  This  board  of  trustees  managed  the 
whole  business.  The  arrangement  was  secret  and  exceedingly 
informal  and  elastic.  The  trust  was  not  incorporated.  The 
trustees,  when  convenient,  could  easily  deny  knowledge  of  the 
doings  of  subordinate  companies,  or  disavow  responsibility  for 
them;  and,  with  better  reason,  the  companies  could  throw 
responsibility  upon  the  intangible  "  trust." 

790.  Other  industries  seized  at  once  upon  this  new  device  for  con 
solidating  management  and  capital.    It  proved  eminently  satis 
factory  to  the  average  stockholder,  though,  in  the  process  of 
organization,  many  small  companies  were  squeezed  out  of  their 
property ;  but  it  abolished  competition,  which  had  always  been 
regarded  as  the  sole  safeguard  (1)  of  the  consumer,  (2)  of  the 
small  producer  of  raw  material,  and  (3)  of  the  laborer.     The 
Standard  Oil  Trust  bought  from  the  owner  of  an  oil  well  at  its 
own  price,  being   practically  the  only  buyer.     So  the  Meat 
Trust  bought  from  the  cattle  raiser.     Then  the  trust  sold  its 
finished  product  at  its  own  rate,  —  which  was  sometimes  an 
advance   upon   former   prices,  and  which  was  never  reduced 
enough  to  correspond  with  the  decreased  cost  of  production.     The 
profits  to  the  stockholders  have  steadily  mounted,  even  when 
prices  have  been  somewhat  lower  ;  and  the  "  cost  of  living  "  has 
been  made  unduly  high.     Sometimes,  as  with  tin  and  steel  plate 
of  some  sorts,  the  absence  of  competition,  together  with  the  prev 
alent  low  business  morality,  led  to  scandalous  deterioration  in  the 
goods  put  upon  the  market,  and  so  robbed  the  consumer  doubly. 

791.  Finally  people  took  alarm.     States  enacted  anti-trust 
legislation  (for  the  most  part,  futile) ;  and,  in  1890,  Congress 


791] 


AND  REGULATION 


659 


passed  the  Sherman  Anti-trust  Act, l  forbidding  "  every  com 
bination"  in  restraint  of  interstate  commerce.  Again  the 
Standard  Oil  led  the  way.  With  cheap,  superficial  obedience, 
it  dissolved  into  twenty  companies  ;  but  one  and  the  same  group 
of  capitalists  retained  the  controlling  interest  in  the  stock  of 
each  company,  and  composed  the  twenty  "  inter-locking " 
boards  of  directors.  Other  trusts  followed  this  method  of 


Courtesy  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company. 
SHEARING  OFF  STEEL  SLABS. 

maintaining  "  community  of  interest  and  management,"  as  the 
railways  were  to  do  later  (§  787) ;  or  they  reorganized  openly  as 
huge  corporations.  The  term  "trust"  was  abandoned  as  a 
technical  business  term;  but  it  remains  properly  enough  in 
popular  use  to  describe  either  of  these  forms  by  which  aggre 
gated  capital  monopolizes  an  industry. 

1  So  called  from  Senator  John  Sherman  of  Ohio,  who,  however,  had  little  to 
do  with  drafting  the  law,  though  he  advocated  it  in  ardent  speeches. 


660 


TRUSTS 


[§792 


792.  Indeed,  the  monopolistic  movement  had  only  begun.  In 
1890  there  were  a  score  of  "  trusts  "  in  the  United  States  with 
an  aggregate  capital  of  a  third  of  a  billion  dollars.  In  1899 
there  were  about  150,  mostly  organized  within  two  years,  with 
a  total  capital  of  over  three  billions.  In  1901  came  the  organi 
zation  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  with  a  total 
capitalization  of  $1,400,000,000,  of  which  —  acording  to  a  later 
government  investigation  —  $  400,000,000  was  water.1  Be 
tween  1900  and  1904  it  is  generally  estimated  that  the  number 

of  trusts  was  multiplied 
by  eight  or  nine,  and 
that  the  capitalization 
rose  from  three  billions  to 
over  thirty  billions.  Of 
this  immense  sum,  a  huge 
portion  was  in  seven  com 
panies,  and  these  had 
manifold  and  intricate 
ramifications ;  so  that 
three  or  four  men,  per 
haps,  held  real  control. 

793.  Attempts  at  State 
regulation  of  trusts  to  les 
sen  the  evils  of  monopoly 
have  taken  the  form,  of 
State  laws  which  permit 
incorporation  only  on  con 
dition  (1)  that  there  shall 
be  no  stock-watering,  (2) 
that  publicity  of  manage 
ment  shall  be  secured, 
and  (3)  that  officials  may  be  held  strictly  to  account.  Such 
legislation,  though  characteristic  of  nearly  every  State,  was 
long  rendered  of  no  account  by  three  "  trust-owned  "  States,  — 


WOODROW  WILSON.    From  a  photograph 
taken  during  his  governorship. 


1  An  ominous  fact  was  that  this  "  trust "  held  title  to  more  than  four  fifths 
of  all  known  iron-ore  lauds  in  theAppalachian  and  Superior  districts. 


§  794]  AND  REGULATION  661 

New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  West  Virginia.  These  three  merely 
opened  the  door  wider  than  before  to  incorporations  of  every 
sort.  A  corporation  organized  in  any  State  can  do  business  in 
all,  and  can  be  deprived  of  its  charter  only  by  the  home  State. 
Accordingly,  by  1907,  95  per  cent  of  the  American  trusts 
had  found  refuge  in  these  three  States.  In  1913  their  citadel 
in  the  favorite  State  of  New  Jersey  was  overthrown  by  the 
resolute  democracy  of  the  governor,  Woodrow  Wilson ; l  but 
their  opportunity  to  pick  any  one  of  forty-eight  States  in  which 
to  corrupt  a  legislature  still  makes  it  almost  impossible  for 
other  States  to  control  them. 

794.  Some  States  began  an  attempt  to  curb  the  power  of  monopoly, 
and  to  take  back  for  the  public  at  least  a  small  part  of  its  un 
reasonable  profits,  by  taxing  great  corporations  higher  than  ordi 
nary  individuals  were  taxed.  This  line  of  operation  was  also 
stopped  at  once  (1882)  by  the  Supreme  Court,  under  authority  of 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment.  That  Amendment  forbade  a  State 
to  discriminate  among  persons.  In  the  Case  of  California  vs. 
the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  the  Court  held  that  a  corporation 
is  a  "  person  "  in  the  meaning  of  the  word  in  this  Amendment, 
though  no  one  thought  of  such  a  thing  when  the  Amendment 
was  being  ratified.  Accordingly  no  taxation  can  be  applied  to 
corporations,  even  to  specially  favored  public-service  corpo 
rations,  other  than  to  other  citizens.2 


1  On  his  last  day  of  office,  after  a  splendid   two-years  battle,  Governor 
Wilson  signed  seven  "anti-trust"  bills,  which  made  New  Jersey  perhaps  the 
most  "trust-proof  "  State  in  the  Union. 

2  In  no  other  civilized  land  is  the  government  so  powerless  to  deal  with 
aggregated  wealth  as  this  decision  makes  the  States  of  the  Union.    The  Four 
teenth  Amendment  had  been  robbed  of  its  intent  —  to  protect  real  persons,  of 
dark  skins,  by  previous  decisions  of  the  Court  (§  710) .    By  this  decision  it  was 
converted  into  a  shield  to  protect  artificial  persons,  in  the  shape  of  dangerous 
monopolies,  from  needful  regulation  by  the  people.    The  Southern  Pacific 
Case  is  to  be  coupled  with  the  Dartmouth  College  Case  (§  355)  as  explaining 
how  the  Constitution  has  been  made  a  shelter  to  property  interests  against 
public  control  far  beyond  anything  comtemplated  even  by  the  founders  of  the 
Constitution.    For  the  next  thirty  years  the  Southern  Pacific  was  "  king  "  in 
California, 


662  THE  PEOPLE    VS.  PRIVILEGE  [§  795 

795.  Some  democratic  thinkers  recognize  that  the  trust,  or  at  least 
consolidation  of  management,  is  inevitable  in  various  lines  of  industry. 
Some  such  thinkers  hold  that  the  present  evils  will  be  corrected  by  the 
trusts  themselves,   under  the  influence   of    a    more    intelligent    public 
opinion  ;   and  they  look  with  hope  to  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Cor 
porations,  established  in  1903,  —  a  branch  of  the  government  to  investi 
gate  the  organization  and  conduct  of  corporations  engaged  in  interstate 
commerce,  —  and  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  of  1916  (§  845). 

796.  Said  Senator  Sherman,  in  the  debate  on  the  Anti-trust 
act,  in  1890  :  - 

"  If  the  concentrated  powers  of  this  combination  [the  relatively  small 
trusts  of  1890]  are  entrusted  to  a  single  man,  it  is  kingly  prerogative, 
inconsistent  with  our  form  of  government.  ...  If  we  will  not  endure  a 
king  as  a  political  power,  we  should  not  endure  a  king  over  the  produc 
tion,  transportation,  and  sale  of  any  of  the  necessities  of  life.  If  we 
would  not  submit  to  an  emperor,  we  should  not  submit  to  an  autocrat 
of  trade  with  power  to  ...  fix  the  price  of  any  commodity." 

But  the  most  serious  power  of  such  aggregated  capital  is  ex 
ercised  in  indirect  ways.  It  can,  at  will,  withdraw  money  from 
circulation,  compel  banks,  therefore,  to  contract  loans ;  force 
factories,  accordingly,  even  those  not  in  any  way  owned  by 
the  combination,  to  shut  down  or  to  cut  down  output  and  dis 
charge  workmen;  and  so  bring  on  business  depression  and 
starvation.  There  seems  little  doubt  that  such  power  has 
been  often  used  in  slight  degree  and  for  short  flurries,  to  in 
fluence  the  stock  market  and  favor  gambling  enterprises  there  ; 
and  many  thinkers  believe  that  it  has  been  used  more  than 
once  to  cause  a  "  panic  "  in  order  to  intimidate  timid  reformers 
in  the  battle  for  civic  righteousness,  —  which  might  otherwise 
soon  interfere  with  the  money  trust's  ownership  of  judges  and 
congressmen.  The  same  tremendous  power,  without  question, 
aims  intelligently  at  the  control  of  higher  educational  institu 
tions,  buys  up  the  "  muckraking "  magazines,  and  dominates 
multitudes  of  newspapers. 

FOR  FURTHER  BEADING.  — Ida  Tarbell,  History  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company;  in  fiction,  — Norris,  The  Pit  and  The  Octopus.  For  a  brief 
general  treatment,  Paxson's  New  Nation  remains  the  best  guide. 


§  798]  PUBLIC  SERVICE   CORPORATIONS  663 

III.    PUBLIC   SERVICE   CORPORATIONS   AND   CORRUPT 
GOVERNMENT 

797.  After  the  Civil  War,  the  growth  of  cities  and  of  new 
inventions  began  to  give  tremendous  importance  to  gas  com 
panies,   electric    lighting   companies,   water    companies,   tele 
phone  companies,  and  street  car  companies.     The  tendency  to 
ward  municipal  corruption  was  frightfully  augmented  by  the  growth 
of  these  new  "public  service  corporations."     Each  had  to  get  the 
right  to  use  the  public  streets  for  tracks  or  pipes  or  wires,  in 
order  to  do  business.     In  the  early  decades  of  the  period,  the 
company  usually  tried  to  get  a  charter  giving  it  exclusive  use  of 
the  streets,  for  its  kind  of  business,  for  a  long  term  of  years  or 
in  perpetuity.     At  the  same  time  it  sought  to  escape  any  real 
public  control  over  its  rates  or  over  the  service  it  should  render, 
by  making  vague  the  charter  clauses  bearing  on  such  matters, 
or  by  inserting  "  jokers  "  to  destroy  their  apparent  force. 

Shrewd  men  saw  that  such  grants  would  become  increasingly 
profitable  with  the  growth  of  city  population ;  and,  to  secure 
them,  some  corporations  found  it  profitable  to  buy  up  public 
officials  on  a  large  scale.  If  a  charter  was  decently  just  to  the 
city,  the  corporation  often  prevented  the  enforcement  of  the 
best  provisions  for  years  by  getting  its  own  tools  elected  to 
legislatures  or  city  councils  or  judgeships,  and  by  having  other 
tools  appointed  to  the  inspectorships  which  were  supposed  to 
see  that  the  company's  service  was  as  good  as  called  for  in  its 
contract. 

798.  These  forces  were  largely  responsible  for  an  increased 
body  of  political  "  grafters  "  in  the  governing  bodies  of  State 
and  city,  —  who  were  then  ready  to  extend  their  operations  un- 
blushingly  to  other  parts  of  the  public  business,  as  in  extorting 
bribes  from  business  men  who  wished  contracts  for  furnish 
ing  supplies  to  the  city  or  for  building  city  improvements. 

Public  graft  became  an  organized  business.  City  pay  rolls 
were  padded  with  names  of  men  who  rendered  no  service, 
sometimes  of  men  who  did  not  exist  but  whose  salaries  were 


664  SPECIAL  PRIVILEGE  [§  799 

drawn  to  fatten  the  income  of  some  "  boss."  Important  offices 
were  turned  over  to  incompetents,  favored  for  political  service. 
The  corruption  of  American  city  government  was  exceeded 
only  by  its  inefficiency.1  Commonly,  too,  it  allied  itself  not 
only  with  public,  but  also  with  private  crime.  Police  depart 
ments  permitted  gamblers  and  thieves  and  thugs  to  ply  their 
trades  with  impunity,  so  long  as  they  did  not  become  too 
notorious ;  and  in  return  the  precinct  captains  collected  each 
week  regular  pay  envelopes  from  the  criminals,  —  the  greater 
part  of  which  went  ultimately  to  higher  officials,  —  chief  of 
police,  mayor,  or  political  boss. 

799.  The  first  case  of  city  corruption  to  catch  the  public  atten 
tion  was  the  infampus  Tweed  Ring,  which  robbed  New  York 
City  of  a  hundred  million  dollars  in  two  years  (1869-1870). 
This  ring  was  finally  broken  up,  and  "  Boss  "  Tweed  was  sent  to 
Sing-Sing,  largely  through  the  fearless  skill  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
soon  after  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  (§  718). 
For  long  it  was  a  pet  delusion  of  "  respectable  "  Republicans 
that  the  New  York  scandal  was  an  exceptional  case,  due  to  the 
deplorable  fact  that  New  York  was  controlled  by  a  Democratic 
organization  (Tammany) ;  but  later  it  developed  that  Tammany's 
methods   were   coarse   and   clumsy   compared  with  those   by 
which  a  Republican  "ring"  had  looted  Philadelphia. 

800.  Slowly  we  have  learned  that  corruption  has  no  party. 
The  biggest  "boss"  naturally  allies  himself  with  whichever 
party  is  usually  in  control  in  his  district ;   but  he  has  a  perfect 
understanding  with  corrupt  leaders  of  the  other  party,  upon 
whom  he  can  call  for  help  against  any  revolt  within  his  own 
organization,  so  "  playing  both  ends  against  the  middle."     The 
surest  weapon  at  the  service  of  these  sly  rogues  is  an  appeal  to 
the  voters  to  be  loyal  to  the  party,  —  so  dividing  ^ood  men  and 
obscuring  real  issues  in  local  government.    Nor  does  one  house- 

i  About  1890  Andrew  D.  White  visited  many  of  the  most  important  Euro 
pean  cities.  At  Constantinople,  he  wrote,  the  rotting  docks  and  general  evi 
dence  of  inefficiency  made  him  homesick  :  nowhere  else  had  he  been  so  reminded 
of  American  cities  (!). 


§  801]  AND  CORRUPT   POLITICS  665 

cleaning  and  the  punishment  of  a  few  rascals  end  the  matter. 
Gains  are  too  great.  In  a  few  years,  New  York  and  Philadel 
phia  were  again  dominated  by  rings  quite  as  bad  as  the  first 
ones.  With  an  occasional  spasm  of  ineffectual  reform,  such 
conditions  remained  characteristic  of  practically  every  impor 
tant  city  until  the  rising  of  the  mighty  tide  of  reform  about  the 
opening  of  the  new  century ;  and  the  fight  for  clean  govern 
ment  is  not  yet  won. 

801 .  The  graduation  of  corrupted  scoundrels  from  city  and  State 
politics  into  National  politics  is  one  cause  of  the  degradation  that 
befell  the  latter  (§  714  ff.).  But  National  politics  had  also  its  own 
troubles.  What  a  street  car  company  or  a  gas  company  was  to 
a  city  council  or  to  a  State  judiciary,  a  railroad  or  a  Standard 
Oil  Company  was  to  Congress  and  the  Federal  bench.  Corpora 
tions  which  wish  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the  party  machinery 
in  State  and  Nation  have  been  the  main  sources  of  campaign 
funds.1  Usually  such  a  corporation  has  kept  on  the  safe  side 
by  contributing  to  both  parties,  —  somewhat  more  liberally  to 
the  one  in  power,  from  which  favors  are  the  more  likely  to 
come.  The  immense  contributions  from  such  sources  have 
been  a  chief  means  of  political  corruption  in  campaigns.  Mean 
time,  the  people  have  to  pay  these  contributions  indirectly  in 
higher  prices,  —  since  the  amounts  are  charged  up  to  "  operating 
expenses  "  by  the  corporations. 


iThe  law  of  1911  to  compel  publicity  by  the  National  Committees  of  all 
political  parties  as  to  the  source  of  all  their  funds  is  helping  to  correct  this 
evil,  though  it  needs  much  amendment  (1918).  During  the  election  of  1912,  a 
congressional  investigation  proved  conclusively,  by  the  sworn  testimony  of  the 
heads  of  the  great  "  trusts,"  that  there  really  had  existed  a  close  alliance  be 
tween  certain  privileged  interests  and  guiding  forces  in  the  government,  such 
as  the  general  public  had  only  dimly  suspected.  Mr.  H.  O.  Havemeyer, 
President  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  was  asked  whether  his  Trust  made  political  con 
tributions  in  the  campaigns.  "Yes,"  he  said  frankly;  "we  always  do  that. 
In  New  York  [controlled  by  Democrats]  we  throw  [our  contribution]  their 
way.  In  Massachusetts,  where  the  Republicans  are  dominant,  they  '  have  the 
call.'  Wherever  there  is  a  dominant  party  .  .  .  that  is  the  party  that  gets 
the  contribution,  because  it  is  the  party  that  controls  local  matters"  [election 
of  congressmen,  governors,  State  judges,  etc.]. 


666  SPECIAL  PRIVILEGE  [§  802 

802.  This  public  corruption  does  not  come  in  any  considerable  degree 
from  ordinary  competitive  business.  Public  corruption  comes  from  the 
desire  to  secure  special  privilege.  The  public  service  corporation  in  the 
city  is  the  source  of  municipal  corruption :  the  ordinary  business  man, 
who  pays  a  bribe  perhaps  to  secure  a  city  contract,  is  rather  a  victim 
than  a  first  cause.  So  in  the  Nation,  the  railroads,  with  their  land 
grants  or  their  desire  to  evade  legal  control,  and,  later,  the  fattened 
trusts  which  wish  to  preserve  some  tariff  "protection,"  are  the  source  of 
National  corruption.  The  city  or  State  "boss"  who  "delivers  the 
goods  "  to  these  privileged  corporations  seems  at  first  sight  the  front  and 
substance  of  the  corruption  ;  but,  in  real  fact,  he  is  merely  an  agent, 
permitted  to  pay  himself  in  loot,  but  set  in  motion  and  protected  by 
"the  man  higher  up,"  the  respectable  head  of  great  business  interests.1 
These  large  interests  draw  after  them  smaller  business  men,  sometimes 
by  brutal  coercion,  but  more  commonly  by  merely  playing  artfully  upon 
the  phrase  that  any  attempt  at  reform  "  hurts  business."  Almost  every 
genuine  reform  movement  in  America  so  far  has  found  its  chief  foe,  after 
a  brief  run,  in  this  despicable  phrase.  (Cf.  §  671.) 

FOR  FURTHER  READING.  — The  books  mentioned  on  page  611  all  have 
value  for  this  chapter.  There  are  also  many  interesting  autobiographies 
of  leading  actors  for  this  period  and  this  topic,  — especially,  La  Follette's 
Personal  Narrative;  Roosevelt's  Fifty  Years;  Tom  L.  Johnson's  My 
Story ;  and  Brand  Whitlock's  Forty  Years  of  It.  In  fiction,  Ford's 
Peter  Stirling  is  a  striking  study  of  municipal  problems  about  1890  with 
a  hero  who  was  popularly  supposed  to  be  modeled  upon  Grover  Cleveland, 
though  the  author  denied  any  such  intention.  The  improvement  in  the 
attitude  of  many  heads  of  "big  business"  toward  labor  problems  is 
pictured  with  faithfulness  in  Ida  Tarbell's  The  Golden  Rule  in  Business. 

All  these  references  remain  good  for  the  remainder  of  the  volume. 

1  Every  student  should  read  Judge  Ben  B.  Liudsey's  The  Beast  and  the 
Jangle,  —  the  best  and  most  dramatic  portrayal  in  literature  of  the  truth 
above  stated  (Doubleday,  1910,  $1.50). 


CHAPTER   LXVI 
FORWARD  MOVEMENTS 

803.  The  new  moral  earnestness  of  1890,  we  have  said  (§  776),  wan 
dered  blindly  for  a  while  in  politics.     But  about  1900  it  began  to  see 
that  the  first  step  toward  industrial  freedom  was  to  restore  self-government  to 
the  people  and  to  enlarge  it  by  the  enfranchisement  of  women  and  through 
new  political  machinery  —  the  referendum,  the  initiative,  the  recall,  the 
direct  nomination  of  all  elected  officials,  and  the  more  direct  control  of 
the  Federal  courts.    The  three  great  forward  movements  treated  in  this 
chapter  have  all  placed   these  matters  foremost  in  their  immediate 
programs. 

I.     THE   LABOR   MOVEMENT 

804.  The  ten  years  preceding  the  Civil  War,  with  the  new 
conveniences  for  communication  and  combination  (§  705),  saw 
a  few  trades  organize  on  a  national  scale  (instead  of  for  localities 
only)  ;  but  these  first  national  "  unions  "  were  confined  to  trades 
whose  total  membership  was  small.     The  sixties  witnessed  a 
remarkable  spread  of  the  movement.     The  Brotherhood  of  Loco 
motive  Engineers  organized  in  1863,  the  cigar  makers  in  '64, 
the  brickmakers  in  '65,  railway  conductors  in  '68,  railway  fire 
men  in  '69  —  all   strong  unions.     By  1870  forty  trades  had 
achieved  national  organization,  and  the  movement  continued 
until  all  skilled  trades  became  so  organized. 

Nearly  every  union  has  its  weekly  or  monthly  organ,  The  Carpenter, 
The  Fireman's  Magazine,  etc.  ;  and,  apart  from  industrial  matters,  these 
organizations  have  exerted  a  notable  influence  and  training.  Many  a 
local  "  Assembly  "  conducts  its  business  and  debates  with  a  promptitude 
and  skill  that  would  be  highly  instructive  to  college  faculty  or  State 
legislature. 

805.  But  organization  of  single  trades,  even  on  a  national 
scale,  was  not  enough.     In  1869  a  few  workingmen  in  Phila* 

667 


668  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  TO-DAY  [§  806 

delphia  founded  The  Noble  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  —  to 
include  all  workers,  skilled  or  unskilled,  —  with  the  motto, 
"  The  injury  of  one  is  the  concern  of  all."  The  strike  year  of 
'77  (§  807)  popularized  the  movement ;  and  in  '78  it  held  its 
first  National  Assembly,  made  up  of  delegates  from  local  and 
district  assemblies.  For  years  this  Order  exercised  vast  in 
fluence  for  good,  and  was  the  fount  of  much  wholesome  legis 
lation  in  State  and  Nation  (§  813).  Especial  gratitude  is  due 
it  for  its  early  recognition  of  the  right  of  women  to  equal  pay 
with  men  for  equal  service,  and  for  its  hearty  welcome  to 
world-peace  movements.  It  joined  the  Populists  in  the  Free 
Silver  campaigns  (§  755),  and  virtually  fell  with  the  failure  of 
that  movement. 

806.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  rose,  phcenixlike,  from 
the  ashes  of  the  Knights.     Its  units  are  the  national  unions  of 
'single  trades ;   it  does   not  recognize  unskilled   labor   in   its 
organization      It  counts  some  two  million  men,  besides  three 
quarters  of  a  million  more  organized  in  railway  unions.     It  has 
encouraged  the  formation  of  Trades'  Assemblies  (the  "  Trades- 
union  "  of  the  thirties)  in  all  large  places,  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  local  unions  and  standing  to  them  somewhat  as  the 
National   Federation    stands    to   the   national   unions.      The 
annual  convention  and  the  executive  council  of  the  American 
Federation  exercise   tremendous  influence  over  the  separate 
unions,    but    have    no    binding    power    over    them,  —  except 
authority  to  levy  assessments  to  sustain  a  strike  approved  by 
the   central   council.1      Samuel    Gompers  has    been  annually 
reflected   president  for   some   twenty-five  years   (1917),  and 
has  proven  himself  a  notable  leader. 

807.  As  with  the  earlier  organizations  of  the  thirties,  so  too 
the  modern  unions  at  once  asserted  hostility  between  labor  and 
capital.     Said  the  brickmakers,  in  the  preamble  to  their  con 
stitution,  in  '65 :  "  Capital  has  assumed  the  right  to  own  and 
control  labor  for  its  own  selfish  ends."     The  first  violent  clash 

i  Contrast  this  organization  with  the  labor  organizations  of  1830 


§  809]  THE  STRIKE   OF   1877  669 

came,  naturally,  in  the  railway  world,  —  because  organization 
on  both  sides  was  first  complete  there.  The  railway  panic  of 
'73  led  many  roads  to  cut  wages.  The  powerful  organizations 
of  "  skilled  "  engineers  and  conductors  proved  able  to  ward  off 
such  reductions,  or  at  least  to  secure  fair  hearing,  in  most  cases, 
by  mere  threats  of  a  strike ;  but  the  places  of  firemen  and 
switchmen  could  be  filled  more  easily,  and  on  these  classes  fell 
the  most  serious  reductions  of  pay.  In  '77  the  fourth  cut 
within  five  years  drove  these  employees  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  to  a  strike  —  which  spread  like  a  prairie  blaze  to  many 
other  roads. 

The  strikers  sought  to  prevent  the  running  of  freight  trains. 
Riot  and  bloodshed  were  widespread,  from  Baltimore  to  San 
Francisco.  Pittsburg  was  in  the  hands  of  a  mob  for  days. 
The  crowds  of  idle  and  desperate  men  in  the  cities,  and  the 
thousands  of  "  tramps "  in  the  country  (both  new  features 
in  American  life  with  the  '73  panic)  added  to  the  violence 
and  disorder.  Millions  on  millions  of  dollars  of  railway 
property  were  destroyed,  and  the  injury  to  private  business 
was  much  more  disastrous.  Violence  was  finally  repressed, 
and  peaceful  strikers  sometimes  intimidated,  by  Federal 
troops.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  strikers  won  important 
concessions. 

808.  The  Bureau  of  Labor  computes  34,657  strikes  for  the  following 
twenty-five-year  period,  1881-1905.     Over  eight  million  men  were  directly 
involved  ;   and  the  direct  cost  —  apart  from  the  greater  indirect  cost  to 
the  public — was  half  a  billion  of  dollars.     More  than  one  third  of  these 
strikes  are  classed  as  "successful";   one  sixth  more  as  "partially  suc 
cessful"  ;   and  nearly  half,  "unsuccessful."     More  than  a  third  of  them 
all  took  place  in  the  last  fifth  of  the  period,  and  some  of  the  most  signifi 
cant  ones  in  our  history  have  come  in  even  more  recent  years.     Only 
two  or  three  more  can  be  mentioned  here. 

809.  In  1894  the  employees  of  the  Pullman  Car  Company  struck 
to  avoid  reduction  of  wages.     The  American  Railway  Union, 
sympathizing  with  the  strikers,  demanded  that  the  quarrel  be 
submitted   to  arbitration.      The  Company   refused,   and   the 


670  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT  [§  810 

Union  refused  to  handle  Pullman  cars  on  any  road.  Twenty- 
three  leading  roads  were  involved.  The  companies  had  con 
tracts,  in  most  cases  at  least,  making  them  liable  for  damages 
if  they  did  not  use  these  cars ;  and,  apart  from  this  fact,  they 
were  bitterly  resolved  to  crush  the  "  sympathetic  strike  "  idea. 

The  disorders  extended  from  Cincinnati  to  San  Francisco ; 
but  Chicago  was  the  storm  center.  Hundreds  of  freight  cars 
were  looted  and  burned  by  the  city  mob,  which  found  its  op 
portunity  for  plunder  in  the  situation ;  and  the  loss  and  crime 
were  charged  upon  the  strikers  by  many  respectable  elements 
of  society.  The  governor  of  Illinois  (Altgeld)  sympathized 
with  the  strike,  and  declared  that  the  railway  companies  were 
paralyzed,  not  by  strike  violence,  but  by  a  legitimate  situation, 
since  they  could  not  secure  men  to  run  their  cars  without 
Federal  assistance.  President  Cleveland,  however,  broke  the 
strike  by  sending  Federal  troops  to  Chicago  to  insure  the 
running  of  trains  —  on  the  ground  of  preventing  interference 
with  the  United  States  mails,  and  of  putting  down  "con 
spiracies"  which  interfered  with  interstate  commerce.  The 
business  interests  of  the  country  heartily  indorsed  the  Presi 
dent's  action,  but  that  action  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons 
why  the  more  radical  wing  of  Democrats  were  driven  into 
opposition  (§  757,  note). 

810.  In  May,  1902,  the  coal  miners  of  Pennsylvania  struck  for 
an  increase  of  wages  and  the  recognition  of  their  union.  The 
strike  lasted  five  months  and  caused  a  general  coal  famine. 
John  Mitchell,  the  head  of  the  miners'  union,  by  his  admirable 
handling  of  the  situation,  won  recognition  as  one  of  the  ablest 
men  America  has  produced.  The  operators,  consisting  of  a 
few  railway  presidents  who  enjoyed  a  complete  monopoly  of 
the  anthracite  coal  trade,  lost  public  sympathy  by  an  insane 
"divine  right"  claim  from  Mr.  Baer,  one  of  the  presidents, 
that  the  public  ought  to  be  content  to  leave  the  matter  to 
"  the  Christian  men  to  whom  God,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  has 
given  the  control  of  the  property  interests  of  the  country." 

Finally  President  Roosevelt  brought  the  operators  and  John 


§  811]  THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  671 

Mitchell  into  a  conference  (October  3).  Mitchell  offered  to 
submit  his  case  to  a  board  of  arbitrators  to  be  appointed  by 
the  President,  and  promised  that  the  miners  would  return  to 
work  at  once,  without  waiting  for  the  investigation,  if  such  a 
course  should  be  agreed  to ;  but  the  operators  refused  arbitra 
tion,  and  called  loudly  on  the  President  for  troops.  Privately, 
Roosevelt  determined  "  to  send  in  the  United  States  army  to 
take  possession  of  the  coal  fields "  if  necessary ;  but,  two 
weeks  later,  he  succeeded  in  bringing  pressure  to  bear  on  the 
mine  owners  from  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  the  financial  backer 
and  real  master  of  the  coal  trust.  Then  the  owners  agreed  to 
arbitration.  Five  months  later  (March,  1903),  the  board  of 
arbitrators  made  its  report,  sustaining  the  demands  of  the 
miners  in  almost  every  point.  The  action  of  President  Roose 
velt  was  acclaimed  by  the  sympathizers  of  labor  everywhere 
as  a  happy  contrast  to  the  action  of  Cleveland  nine  years  be 
fore  at  Chicago.  Incidentally  it  is  well  to  note  that  the 
mining  companies  simply  added  to  the  price  of  coal  much 
more  than  the  arbitration  had  cost  them. 

811.  During  the  Pullman  strike  (July  2,  1894),  a  Federal 
District  Court  issued  a  "blanket  injunction,"  ordering  all 
members  of  the  American  Railway  Union  to  cease  interfering 
with  the  business  of  the  twenty-three  roads  (§  809).  Eugene 
V.  Debs,  president  of  the  Union,  continued  to  manage  the 
strike,  and,  two  weeks  later,  was  arrested  for  contempt  of  court. 
Investigation  of  the  charge  did  not  take  place  for  several 
months  —  during  which  Debs  remained  in  jail  rather  than  ask 
for  bail  on  such  a  charge  —  and  then  he  was  condemned  to  six 
months'  imprisonment.  In  effect  Debs  was  punished  by  a 
year's  imprisonment  for  an  act  ivhich  no  legislature  or  jury  had 
ever  declared  a  crime,  and  he  was  deprived  of  his  constitutional 
privilege  of  a  jury  trial.  The  principle  was  not  new  ;  but  this 
sort  of  "  court  government  by  injunction  "  came  into  new  promi 
nence  by  this  incident.1  Organized  labor  at  once  made  resist- 

1  Debs  was  already  under  charge  of  violating  the  laws  regulating  inter 
state  commerce  ;  but  on  a  trial  for  this  offense  he  would  have  had  a  jury. 


672  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT  [§  812 

ance  to  "  government  by  injunction "  one  of  its  cardinal 
principles.  In  1912  an  "  anti-injunction  bill  "  passed  the  lower 
House  of  Congress,  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  Such  a  bill  did 
become  law  in  the  administration  of  Woodrow  Wilson. 

812-  Society  must  awaken  not  only  to  the  wrongs  of  labor  but  to  its 
own  loss  in  all  "labor  war."  It  foots  the  bills  in  every  strike.  What  the 
employer  loses  is  quickly  made  good  to  him  by  increased  prices  to  the 
public.  What  the  laborer  loses  is  added  largely  to  the  cost  of  prisons  and 
asylums  paid  by  the  public.  Even  while  the  strike  is  in  progress,  the 
"  innocent  bystander  "  often  suffers  as  bitterly  as  the  combatants—  just 
as  the  burghers  of  a  medieval  city  often  found  their  daily  marketing 
interrupted,  and  sometimes  had  heads  broken  or  houses  burned,  in  the 
private  wars  between  lawless  barons  in  their  streets.  Society  must  con 
tinue  to  suffer  such  ills,  as  medieval  society  did,  until  it  becomes  resolute 
to  compel  justice  on  both  sides.  A  beginning  in  this  direction  is  at 
tempted  in  the  creation  of  boards  of  conciliation  and  arbitration,1  and, 
to  many  minds,  in  the  recent  eight-hour  railroad  law  (§  814). 

Public  sympathy  is  effectually  alienated  from  either  side  that  is  known 
to  use  violence.  The  unions  know  this;  and,  from  policy  and  principle, 
they  commonly  do  their  best  to  prevent  disorder.  When  the  more  des 
perate  and  ill-controlled  strikers,  or  their  sympathizers,  do  use  violence, 
well-to-do  society  promptly  calls  for  troops  and  declares  that  "now  the 
time  for  considering  the  wrongs  of  labor  has  gone  :  it  remains  only  to 
restore  order."  Certainly,  order  must  be  maintained:  but  the  funda 
mental  evil  in  the  matter  lies  in  the  fact  that  for  the  people  who  use 
this  argument  most  glibly,  "the  time  for  considering  the  wrongs  of 
labor"  has  never  arrived.  The  unions  assert,  too,  that  sometimes  the 
employers  hire  ruffians  to  destroy  their  own  property  in  order  to  repre 
sent  such  destruction  as  the  work  of  strikers  ;  and  that  armies  of  thugs  in 

The  action  of  the  court  deprived  him  of  this  right,  and  removed  all  the 
securities  of  the  ordinary  law.  Says  Davis  R.  Dewey,—  the  practice  tended 
to  make  "the  courts  no  longer  judicial,  but  a  part  of  the  executive  branch  of 
the  government,"  and  eventually  to  make  "the  judiciary  either  tyrannical 
or  contemptible  "  (National  Problems,  296). 

1  Such  boards  exist  in  more  than  half  the  States.  Their  powers,  however, 
are  insufficient  to  secure  industrial  peace  —  granted  that  peace  can  be  found 
along  this  line.  Some  States  propose  at  least  to  compel  each  party,  before 
resorting  to  strike  or  lockout,  to  submit  its  wrongs  to  full  inquiry  by  such 
a  board,  so  that  the  public  may  have  authoritative  and  impartial  informa 
tion,  and  so  give  its  sympathies  intelligently. 


§  813]  THE  EIGHT-HOUR  DAY  673 

the  pay  of  the  employers  as  private  policemen  often  intentionally  force  a 
riot  by  "beating  up"  peaceable  strikers  and  by  grossly  insulting  women 
and  children. 

813.  Labor  has  won  various  gains  through  peaceful  influence 
upon  legislation. 

a.  After  the  Civil  War,  the  eight-hour  day 1  took  the  place  in 
labor  agitation  which  the  ten-hour  day  had  held  thirty  years 
before.  In  '68  Congress  adopted  the  principle  for  all  labor 
employed  directly  by  the  government.  Many  States  and  mu 
nicipalities  have  followed  this  example  for  public  works;  and 
in  1912  Congress  enacted  that  the  principle  should  apply  to  all 
work  done  for  the  government  by  contractors  as  well  as  to 
work  done  directly  by  its  own  employees.  Various  skilled 
unions,  too,  have  secured  the  eight-hour  day  by  custom. 

State  legislation  regarding  the  labor  day,  except  on  public 
work,  had  always  been  nullified  by  the  courts,  until  within  a 
few  years,  on  the  ground  that  such  legislation  interferes  with 
"freedom  of  contract."  In  1895  in  Illinois,  and  in  1911  in 
New  York,2  laws  to  shorten  the  working  day  even  for  women 
were  thrown  out  by  the  courts  on  that  same  ground.  Under 
the  compulsion  of  public  opinion,  the  courts  in  these  same 


1  "  We  mean  to  make  things  over;  we're  tired  of  toil  for  nought 
But  bare  enough  to  live  on :  never  an  hour  for  thought. 
We  want  to  feel  the  sunshine ;  we  want  to  smell  the  flowers ; 
We're  sure  that  God  has  willed  it,  and  we  mean  to  have  eight  hours. 
We're  summoning  our  forces  from  shipyard,  shop,  and  mill: 
Eight  hours  for  work,  eight  hours  for  rest,  eight  hours  for  what  we  willf " 

—  J.  G.  BLANCHAKD. 

2  Referring  to  this  decision,  in  a  speech  in  New  York  in  November,  1911, 
Theodore  Roosevelt  said:  —  "  I  am  asking  you  to  declare  unequivocally  that 
it  is  for  the  people  themselves  to  say  whether  or  not  this  policy  [a  shorter 
labor  day]  shall  be  adopted,  and  that  no  body  of  officials,  no  matter  how  well 
meaning,  nor  personally  honest,  no  matter  whether  they  be  legislators, 
judges,  or  executives,  have  any  right  to  say  that  we,  the  people,  shall  not 
make  laws  to  protect  women  and  children,  to  protect  men  in  hazardous  indus 
try,  to  protect  men,  women,  and  children  from  working  under  unhealthy  con 
ditions  or  for  manifestly  excessive  hours,  and  to  prevent  the  conditions  of  life 
in  tenement  houses  from  becoming  intolerable.  ...  I  do  believe  that  this 


674  LABOR   GAINS  [§  813 

States  have  found  it  well  to  reverse  their  earlier  decisions, 
rinding  sanction  for  so  doing  in  the  "  police  powers  of  the 
State,"  —  to  maintain  a  reasonable  standard  of  health  and 
public  welfare.  And  now,  in  1917,  the  Federal  Supreme 
Court,  democratized  by  Woodrow  Wilson's  appointments,  has 
declared  constitutional  (1)  a  California  law  fixing  eight  hours 
as  the  maximum  working  day  for  women ;  (2)  an  Oregon 
law  fixing  a  ten-hour  maximum  day  for  men;  and  (3)  an 
Oregon  law  establishing  the  principle  of  a  "  minimum  wage  " 
for  woman,  a  "  living  wage "  such  as  to  insure  health  and 
decency. 

This  last  decision — long  the  hope  of  radical  reformers  —  was  deter 
mined  largely  by  the  conclusive  arguments  prepared  by  Louis  Brandeis 
shortly  before  his  appointment  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Under  these 
circumstances,  Justice  Brandeis,  of  course,  did  not  sit  in  the  court  when 
the  case  was  tried. 

b.  It  has  been  easier  to  secure  limitation  of  the  working  day 
for  children  than  for  adults,  because  public  sympathy  was 
more  easily  aroused  and  because  the  common  law  did  not  "  pro 
tect  "  children  by  the  "  freedom  of  contract "  rule.  In  1874  and 
1879  Massachusetts,  through  the  influence  of  organized  labor 
and  of  the  Labor  Bureau's  statistics,  made  the  first  efficient 
provision  in  America  for  limitation  of  hours  of  labor  for  women 
and  children  (ten  hours  a  day),  with  adequate  inspection  to 
enforce  the  law.  During  the  next  decade,  this  example  was 
followed,  for  children  at  least,  in  most  of  the  manufacturing 
States  of  that  day  ;  and  there  has  been  further  legislation  pro 
hibiting  all  employment  of  children  of  school  age  —  at  least  until 
a  certain  proficiency  in  studies  had  been  attained. 

Between  1880  and  1890  the  number  of  children  in  manu 
facturing  establishments  fell  off  a  third;  but  after  1890,  the 
numbers  increased  once  more,  with  the  growth  of  factories  in 


people  must  ultimately  control  its  own  destinies,  and  cannot  surrender  the 
right  of  ultimate  control  to  a  judge  any  more  than  to  a  legislator  or  an 
executive." 


§  813]         CHILD  LABOR  AND  FACTORY  ACTS  675 

the  South  —  where  proper  regulation  of  this  crime  against 
youth  remained  sadly  lacking.  Labor  organizations  at  once 
expressed  desire  to  coerce  these  negligent  States  by  Federal 
law  forbidding  railways  to  transport  goods  produced  by  child 
labor.  Constitutional  authority  for  such  legislation  was  claimed 
under  the  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  commerce  (§  347),  and 
in  1916  such  a  law  was  finally  enacted.1  In  1912  the  govern 
ment,  too,  created  a  Federal  Children's  Bureau  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  children  and  to  watch  the  workings  of  the  child- 
labor  laws. 

c.  A  scientific  investigation  of  labor  conditions  by  State  and 
Federal  governments  has  been  one  of  the  wisest  demands  of 
labor.     In  1869  a  Labor  Reform  party  secured  a  State  Bureau 
of   Labor   Statistics   in   Massachusetts.     In   the   eighties  the 
Knights  of  Labor  secured  such  a  bureau  in  the  Federal  govern 
ment  and  in  many  States.     Most  of  the  States  now  have  such 
departments,  usually    headed    by   labor   representatives    and 
charged   with  authority  to   enforce  factory  legislation.     The 
Federal    Bureau   is   now    the   Department    of    Labor    (§  370, 
close). 

d.  Factory  acts  have  been  adopted  in  nearly  all  the  States, 
requiring    employers    to  "fence"    dangerous    machinery,    to 
arrange  for  escape  from  possible  fire,  and  to  provide  adequate 
ventilation  and   freedom   from  dampness   and   from  extreme 
temperatures.     Such  legislation  is  enforced  through  inspection 
by  the  State  Labor  Bureaus. 

e.  Compensation   to   workmen  for   injuries   received   in   the 
course  of  their  toil  has  made  much  progress.     The  Common 
Law  permitted  an  employee  to  recover  by  a  suit  for  damages. 
The  cost,  however,  was  too  great  for  poor  men  in  any  but  the 
gravest  cases ;   and  if  the  accident  was  caused  by  the  care 
lessness   of    a   "  fellow   servant,'7   no  recovery   was    possible. 
Happily,  many  of  the  States,  by  employers'  liability  laws,  have 


1  There  is  still  great  need  of  State  legislation  in  the  South  to  reach  employ 
ments  to  which  this  Federal  law  cannot  apply. 


676  LABOR  GAINS  {§  813 

abolished  this  last  principle,  and  some  of  them  have  made 
compensation  almost  automatic  —  without  the  intervention  of 
legal  processes.  This  plan  has  been  extended  by  the  Federal 
government  to  railroad  employees  engaged  in  interstate  com 
merce,  and  (1916)  to  all  Federal  employees. 


Harris  and  Swing,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WATCHING  THE  PROCESSION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF  LABOR 
at  its  meeting  in  1916.  From  left  to  right  the  figures  are  President  Wilson, 
Samuel  Gompers,  and  Secretary  Wilson,  then  head  of  the  Department  of 
Labor. 

When  the  practice  becomes  general,  compensation  for  accidents  will 
become  an  item  in  the  general  expense  account  of  all  factories,  —  part  of 
the  operating  expenses,  — and  will  be  paid,  as  it  should  be,  by  society,  in 
the  price  of  the  goods.  At  the  same  time,  each  employer  will  have 
an  inducement  to  precautions,  since,  by  reducing  accidents  below  the 
average,  he  will  add  to  his  profits. 

In  this  matter  America,  with  its  constitutional  protection  to  property 
interests,  still  lags  far  behind  Germany  and  England.  No  other  industrial 
country  needs  such  legislation  as  much  as  America.  No  other  one  has  so 
large  a  proportion  of  preventable  accidents.  In  our  coal  mines  alone,  in 
1908,  three  thousand  men  were  killed  and  ten  thousand  injured.  The 


814] 


EMPLOYERS'  LIABILITY  LAWS 


677 


family  wreckage  that  goes,  with  such  loss  of  life  by  the  breadwinners 
is  even  more  appalling.  Unless  this  slaughter  is  checked  by  law,  or  by 
greater  sense  of  responsibility  in  employers,  American  industry  threatens 
to  become  more  wasteful  of  human  life  and  social  welfare  than  ancient 
war  was. 

814.   Closely  related  to  one  of  these  forward  steps  is  a  gain 
made  recently  under  tlireat  of  strike.    In  March  of  1916,  the  four 


WOODROW  WILSON  ADDRESSING  CONGRESS  IN  JOINT  SESSION,  urging  the 
enactment  of  the  Eight-Hour  law.  From  a  photograph.  After  President 
Washington's  unpleasant  experiences  in  meeting  Congress  (cf.  §  369),  no 
President  visited  that  body  in  person  until  President  Wilson  renewed  the 
original  practice  of  reading  his  "messages"  in  person  —  without  the 
monarchic  ceremonial  which  made  such  action  repulsive  a  century  earlier. 

great  railway  "  brotherhoods  "  (conductors,  engineers,  trainmen, 
and  firemen)  began  an  earnest  agitation  for  "  an  eight-hour  day, 
with  pay-and-a-half  for  overtime." 1  After  various  fruitless  con 
ferences  with  railroad  managers,  the  men  voted  (94  per  cent  of 
the  400,000  members  of  the  brotherhoods)  to  give  their  "  heads  " 
authority  to  call  a  nation-wide  strike  if  the  managers  persisted. 

1  The  railroad  managers  insisted  that  this  really  meant  not  shorter  hours 
but  an  increase  of  $>  10,000,000  a  year  in  wages.  The  men  declared  they  were 
after  shorter  hours,  and  that  they  asked  extra  pay  for  overtime  mainly  to 
compel  the  roads  to  arrange  eight-hour  schedules. 


678  THE   LABOR  MOVEMENT  [§  815 

The  nation  was  alarmed.  There  seemed  no  doubt  that  the 
brotherhoods  could  tie  up  the  transportation  of  the  country  com 
pletely  ;  and  that  would  mean  ruin  to  business  and  starvation  to 
the  city  poor.  The  managers  offered  to  arbitrate  :  the  men  were 
willing  to  arbitrate  as  to  pay  for  overtime,  but  not  as  to  the 
eight-hour  day.  President  Wilson  now  called  the  "  heads " 
and  the  railway  managers  into  consultation;  but  many  days 
of  conference  brought  no  result.  The  President  then  made  a 
public  statement  of  his  position  :  — 

"  I  have  recommended  the  concession  of  the  eight-hour  day  — 
that  is,  the  substitution  of  an  eight-hour  day  for  the  present 
ten-hour  day  in  all  the  existing  practices  and  agreements.  I 
made  this  recommendation  because  I  believe  the  concession 
right.  The  eight-hour  day  now  undoubtedly  has  the  sanction 
of  the  judgment  of  society  in  its  favor,  and  should  be  adopted 
as  a  basis  for  wages  even  where  the  actual  work  to  be  done 
cannot  be  completed  within  eight  hours.  .  .  ." 

The  roads,  the  President  continued,  might  or  might  not  be 
entitled  to  increase  rates  to  the  public :  only  time  could  show 
what  adjustments  would  be  necessary.  Accordingly,  he  recom 
mended  that  the  men  postpone  their  demand  regarding  pay 
for  overtime. 

The  men  accepted  the  President's  plan,  but  the  managers 
refused  it.  The  strike  was  set  for  an  hour  only  some  six  days 
off.  But  Congress,  under  the  President's  capable  leadership, 
hastily  enacted  an  eight-hour  law  for  all  interstate  commerce, 
referring  the  matter  of  pay  for  overtime  to  future  arbitra 
tion  by  a  commission.  A  national  calamity  was  averted, 
and  the  eight-hour  day  received  general  approval  even  from 
those  who  savagely  criticized  the  President's  "  surrender." 
The  whole  matter  was  a  leading  issue  at  the  election  in  Novem 
ber,  when  the  President  was  given  a  second  term  ;  and  in  the 
following  March  the  law  was  upheld  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

815.  The  "  Closed  Shop  "  has  been  a  chief  aim  of  labor  unions 
in  many  strikes  and  boycotts.  Labor  unionists  believe  that 
they  must  have  "  collective  bargaining  "  if  labor  is  to  deal  with 


§  816]  THE   CLOSED   SHOP  679 

capital  on  anything  like  equal  terms  :  the  individual  laborer 
must  accept  any  terms  offered  him.  Accordingly,  members  of 
a  union  contend  that  every  worker  in  their  trade  must  be  per 
suaded,  or  forced,  to  join  the  union  or  leave  the  industry.  The 
man  who  stays  out  gets  whatever  better  conditions  may  be  se 
cured  by  collective  bargaining,  without  giving  his  help  toward 
it ;  and,  in  time  of  trial,  he  becomes  a  traitor  to  the  cause  of 
labor  by  underbidding  the  union  standard. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  liberal-minded  people  look  upon  the  princi 
ple  of  the  closed  shop  as  " un-American."  It  is  easily  designated  as  tyr 
anny  toward  the  individual  laborer,  who  is  no  longer  "permitted"  to 
work  "on  his  own  terms."  Sometimes,  too,  a  strike  against  a  fair  em 
ployer  who  himself  recognizes  union  labor,  but  who  has  contracts  with 
firms  that  do  not,  involves  serious  injustice.  The  unions,  too,  fall  often 
into  the  hands  of  self-seeking  leaders,  or  of  treacherous  ones,  and  are 
used  to  bad  ends  ;  and  the  most  sincere  leaders  are  no  more  beyond  pos 
sibility  of  error,  in  their  puzzling  duties,  than  other  men  are. 

But  the  sins  of  organized  labor,  while  often  more  violent,  are  usually 
less  dangerous  to  human  progress,  than  the  sins  of  organized  capital  which 
commonly  provoke  them.  From  labor's  viewpoint,  talk  by  a  "scab  "  of 
his  individual  "right "  to  bargain  his  own  labor  is  as  much  out  of  place 
as  like  vaporings  by  a  deserter  in  war.  The  "  unionist  "  feels  that  organ 
ized  labor  is  the  only  hope  to-day  against  industrial  serfdom,  and  that 
its  victory  means  better  conditions  of  life  for  the  masses  of  mankind. 

II.    SOCIALISTS  AND   SINGLE   TAXERS 

816.  While  the  Labor  Union  has  been  appealing  to  skilled 
workers,  Socialism  has  been  making  rapid  converts  among 
unskilled  laborers  on  the  streets  and  among  students  in  the 
closet.  To-day  it  is  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  in  American 
life  ;  and  therefore  it  must  be  understood.  The  time  has  gone 
when  ignorant  critics  could  contemptuously  dispose  of  it  by 
confounding  it  with  either  anarchy  or  communism. 

Modern  Socialism  points  out  that  a  few  capitalists  practically 
control  the  means  of  producing  wealth  ("  the  machinery  of 
production  and  transportation").  This,  they  argue,  is  the 
essential  evil  in  industrial  conditions.  Their  remedy  is  to 


680  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS   OF  TO-DAY          [§  817 

have  society  step  into  the  place  of  those  feiv,  taking  over  the 
ownership  and  management  (1)  of  land,  including,  of  course 
mines,  water  power,  and  all  right-of-way,  (2)  of  transporta 
tion,  and  (3)  of  all  machinery  employed  in  producing  wealth. 
Private  ownership  for  private  enjoyment  and  consumption, 
they  claim,  would  then  regulate  itself  without  injury  to  the 
common  life. 

For  a  more  immediate  program,  Socialists  urge  among  other 
matters  :  (1)  "  compulsory  State  insurance  "  of  all  "  against  un 
employment,  illness,  accidents,  old  age,  and  death";  (2)  gov 
ernment  relief  for  unemployed  workers  by  extension  of  public 
works  — "  building  schools,  reforesting  of  cut-over  and  waste 
lands,  reclamation  of  arid  tracts,  and  improving  roads " ; 
(3)  equal  suffrage  for  men  and  women ;  (4)  extension  of  inheri 
tance  taxes  and  of  graduated  income  taxes ;  (5)  the  "free  ad 
ministration  of  justice  "  ;  (6)  the  abolition  of  the  powers  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to  declare  laws  void  ;  (7)  the  initiative,  refer 
endum,  and  right  of  recall. 

817.  *  Until   recently  the  political  Socialist   movement  was 
confined   to  large   manufacturing   towns,   but  of  late   it  has 
gained   power   rapidly   in   multitudes  of   small   villages   and 
even  in  purely  agricultural  districts.     The  leading   Socialist 
party   (Social   Democratic)    polled   94,000   votes  in  1900  for 
Eugene  V.  Debs  (§  811)  for  President.     In  1904,  with  the  same 
candidate  (at  the   reelection  of  Roosevelt),   it   secured  over 
400,000  votes,  and  it  more  than  doubled  these  at  the  elec 
tion  in  1912.      In  1916,  it  cast  only  750,000  votes,  — prob 
ably  because  many  railroad  men  who  had  been  loosely  affiliated 
with  it  in  previous  campaigns  voted  this  time  for  Woodrow 
Wilson  on  the  issue  of  the  Eight-Hour  law. 

818.  A  radical  faction  of  Socialists  has  split  off  into  a  distinct  organ 
ization,  —the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World  (I.  W.  W.).     This  party 
decries  mere  political  activity,  and  insists  on  "  direct  action  "  against  the 
present  industrial   organization  of  society.     And  society,   in  its  turn, 
alarmed  and  angered,  instead  of  merely  punishing  these  agitators  when 
they  have  incited  to  actual  crime,  has  many  times  refused  them  the 


§  820]          SOCIALISTS   AND   THE   SINGLE   TAX  681 

ordinary  privileges  of  free  speech  and  public  meeting  —  so  exalting  them 
into  "  martyrs." 

819.  Unhappily,   the   leaders    of   the   Socialist    party   are 
largely   of   German  or   Austrian   birth;    and  when   America 
entered  the  war  for  democracy  against  Germany,  in  1917,  the 
Socialist  party  as  an  organization  took  a  distinctly  disloyal 
position.     This  fact  not  only  arrayed  that  party  against  prog 
ress  :  it  also  cast  discredit  upon  the  whole  Socialistic  program. 

There  are  leading  Socialists,  however,  eminently  patriotic, 
like  John  Spargo  and  Charles  Edward  Eussell.1  And,  repu 
diated  though  they  are  by  the  party,  they  have  a  large  follow 
ing  among  former  Socialists.  When  the  Socialistic  movement 
again  becomes  a  political  factor,  it  will  probably  be  under  the 
leadership  of  these  men. 

820.  In  1879  Henry  George  published  Progress  and  Poverty. 
This  brilliant  book,  to  its  converts,  transformed  "  the  dismal 
science  "  of  political  economy  into  a  religion  of  hope.     George 
teaches  that  land  values  are  created  by  the  growth  of  popula 
tion.     They  are  a  social   product,  —  not  earned  by  the  indi 
vidual.     Society  therefore  should  take  them.     It  can  do  so  by 
taxing  land  up  to  the  rental  value  of  unimproved  land  equal  in 
location  and  quality.     This  taxation  would  include,  of  course, 
the  full  value  of  the  use  of  city  streets  to  transportation  com 
panies  and  lighting  companies,  and  of  railroad  right-of-way  — 
unless  the  public  choose  to  keep  such  enterprises  wholly  in 
its   own  hands.      Thus    taxation   would   reach   all    "natural 
monopolies." 

The  advocates  believe  that  such  a  tax  would  exceed  present 
public  expenditure  and  make  other  taxation  unnecessary. 
Therefore  it  is  styled  the  "  Single  Tax."  Other  taxation,  it  is 
urged,  "  penalizes  industry."  The  Single  Tax  takes  from  the 
individual  only  what  he  has  never  earned  (the  "unearned 
increment"),  and  takes  for  society  only  what  society  has 

1  Said  Mr.  Russell,  when  his  party  cast  him  out :  —  "I  am  not  yet  convinced 
that  I  cannot  be  both  a  Socialist  and  an  American  ••  but  if  I  have  to  choose,  I 
choose  to  be  an  American." 


682  THE  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT  [§  821 

created.  Incidentally,  it  would  put  an  end  to  mischievous 
speculation  in  land  —  since  no  one  could  then  afford  to  hold 
land,  unused,  for  a  rise  —  and  it  would  certainly  prevent  many 
forms  of  vicious  special  privilege.  Indeed,  its  converts  usually 
hold  that  all  special  privilege  runs  back  to  private  ownership 
of  land  values. 

Apart  from  the  question  of  exact  economic  truth,  the  Single 
Tax  doctrine  has  been  one  of  the  inspiring  forces  of  the  cen 
tury  for  the  betterment  of  man.  Progress  and  Poverty  was  a 
trumpet  call  for  eager  youth  with  faith  in  humanity  to  rally 
to  a  contest  for  truth  which  should  make  men  free.  Ever  since, 
its  converts  have  been  found  foremost  in  movements  to  lift 
human  life  to  higher  levels. 

821.  Socialists  believe  in  public  ownership  of  all  the  means 
of  production,  including  machinery;  Single-Taxers  believe  in 
public  ownership  only  of  all  natural  monopolies  (§  788).     The 
Socialists  agree  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Single  Tax,  but  do  not 
think  it  goes  far  enough.     The  Single-Taxer  denounces  socialism 
as   tyrannical,   and   believes   that,    granted    the   Single   Tax, 
extreme   individualism    might    safely   rule   all    other    social 
relations. 

III.     THE  "PROGRESSIVE"  MOVEMENT  IN  THE  TWENTIETH 

CENTURY 

A.    IN  STATE  AND  LOCAL  GOVERNMENT 

822.  In  the  Jacksonian  period,  three  generations  ago,  Amer 
ican  democracy  triumphed  in  theory  over  all  enemies.     But  real 
political  practice  fell  far  short  of  true  democracy.     The  new 
machinery  which  was  devised  for  Jacksonian  democracy  (§  569) 
did  not  suit  its  needs.     It  made  the  people's  rule  too  indirect.     It 
suited  better  the  secret  rule  of  Privilege.     It  was  particularly 
fitted  for  the  skillful  manipulation  of  "  bosses,"  the  agents  of 
Privilege. 

About  1900,  as  is  said  above  (§  803),  the  conviction  grew  strong 
among  political  reformers  that  the  first  need  of  our  Republic  was 


823] 


IN  THE   STATES 


683 


more  direct  democracy,  with  less  power  in  "political  middlemen" : 
—  direct  nominations  by  the  people  in  place  of  indirect  by 
bargaining  conventions ;  a  direct  check  upon  officials  after 
election  by  the  recall ;  direct  legislation  by  the  initiative  and 
referendum  ;  direct  "  home  rule  "  for  cities,  in  place  of  indirect 
rule  at  the  State  capital;  direct  election  of  United  States 
Senators  ;  a  direct  voice  in  the  government  by  women;  and 
so  on. 

823.    This  need  of  more  democratic  political  machinery  was 
to  be  met  almost  wholly  by  State  action,  not  by  National  law. 


THE  MINNESOTA  CAPITOL,  at  St.  Paul. 

This  was  fortunate.  One  State  moved  faster  for  direct  legis 
lation  ;  another  State,  for  woman  suffrage ;  while  those  States 
which  do  not  yet  move  in  any  matter,  and  which  might  have 
drag  enough  to  prevent  any  movement  in  a  consolidated  nation, 
must  at  least  look  on  with  interest  while  their  more  far-sighted 
or  more  reckless  neighbors  act  as  political  experiment  stations. 
Each  of  these  experiments  which  proves  profitable  to  democracy 
will  in  time  force  its  way  into  all  the  commonwealths. 

For  many  years  after  the  Civil  War,  the  State  seemed  in 
danger  of  sinking  into  a  disused  organ  —  a  sort  of  vermiform 


684  "MORE  DIRECT  DEMOCRACY  [§  824 

appendix  in  the  body  politic.  But  now  the  State  has  re 
awakened, —  and,  with  it,  new  hope  for  democracy.  In  1900, 
after  years  of  splendid  conflict  under  the  leadership  of  Robert 
La  Follette,  Wisconsin  began  to  shake  off  the  rule  of  bosses  and 
machine  politics,  to  control  railroads,  and  to  build  a  truly 
democratic  commonwealth,  with  her  great  university  for  her 
training  school  in  politics  and  in  nobler  living.  Then,  led  by 
William  Uren,  Oregon  adopted  democratic  machinery  that 
outran  anything  before  known  in  America.  Oklahoma  began 
its  statehood  with  most  of  the  democratic  devices  known  at 
the  time,  and  with  some  novel  experiments,  in  its  first  consti 
tution.  And  the  State  elections  of  1910  and  1911  witnessed 
brilliant  democratic  progress  all  the  way  from  the  redemption 
of  corporation-ridden  New  Jersey  by  Woodrow  Wilson  (§  793) 
to  the  redemption  of  Southem-Pacific-ridden  California  by 
Hiram  W.  Johnson,  with  the  adoption  of  nearly  all  the  reforms 
indicated  above  in  several  States.  A  true  democratic  machinery 
is  the  contribution  of  the  early  twentieth  century  to  democracy. 

824.  The  Australian  Ballot l  was  the  first  of  these  reforms  to 
win  general  acceptance.  Under  earlier  practice,  the  parties 
and  candidates  printed  tickets  in  any  form  they  liked,  often 
with  deceptive  labels  or  with  fraudulent  changes  of  one  or 
more  names.  Thoughtful  voters,  who  wished  to  vote  inde 
pendently  of  party  labels,  found  it  difficult  to  do  so ;  and  a 
purchased  voter  received  his  ballot  from  the  bribe-giver,  who 
watched  him  deposit  it.  Now  in  all  but  two  States,  there  is 
an  official  ballot  printed  by  the  State.  No  other  can  be  used. 
The  names  of  all  candidates  appear  on  this  ballot ;  and  spaces 
are  left  for  the  voter  to  write  in  others  if  he  so  wishes.  The 
ballot  is  given  out  only  by  the  judge  of  election  at  the  polling 
place  and  at  the  time  of  voting ;  and  the  process  of  voting  is 
in  general  as  follows :  (1)  The  voter  gives  his  name  to  the 
judges  of  election,  and  they  verify  it  from  the  "  registration  " 


1  The  system  is  essentially  the  English  ballot  system  of  1870,  which  had  been 
improved  in  some  measure  in  some  of  the  Australian  States. 


§  825]  THE  AUSTRALIAN  BALLOT  685 

lists l  as  the  name  of  a  legal  voter  in  that  precinct.  (2)  The 
voter  then  receives  from  the  judge  one  ballot  (and  if  he  mis- 
marks  this,  so  as  to  require  another,  the  first  one  must  be  de 
livered  to  the  judges  and  destroyed).  (3)  He  takes  this  ballot 
into  a  screened  booth,  where  he  finds  a  shelf  and  a  pencil,  and 
marks  his  choice  for  each  office.  (4)  He  then  folds  the  ballot, 
and  it  is  deposited  in  the  ballot  box  by  an  election  official 
under  his  eyes.  This  process  insures  secrecy,  and  discourages 
buying  votes :  the  buyer  finds  it  hard  to  make  sure  that  the 
voter  "  delivers  the  goods." 

Henry  George  (§  820)  began  the  American  agitation  for  the  Australian 
ballot  in  1886  in  New  York.  In  1887,  a  bill  for  the  reform  was  defeated 
in  the  legislature ;  and  three  years  later,  when  public  opinion  compelled 
the  old  parties  to  grant  the  reform,  they  managed  for  a  while  to  deceive 
the  people  with  a  sham.  The  New  York  ballot  of  1890  did  secure  secrecy; 
but  it  encouraged  straight  party  voting  by  arranging  that  one  mark  at  the 
head  of  a  ticket  should  stand  for  all  the  candidates  of  the  party  selected. 
Five  years  later,  however,  New  York  secured  the  true  reform  ballot. 
One  of  the  chief  advantages  of  the  Australian  ballot  is  that  it  requires 
the  voter  to  designate  his  choice  for  each  office,  and  so  encourages  inde 
pendent  voting. 

Some  States  permit  voting  machines.  Such  a  machine  combines  all 
the  advantages  of  the  Australian  ballot  with  certain  others.  The  count  is 
automatic,  — obviating  errors  and  corruption  by  clerks  ;  and  the  fact  that 
the  count  is  complete  (except  for  copying,  the  results)  when  the  last  vote 
is  cast  saves  much  time  and  expense.  The  machine  has  the  full  ballot 
upon  it,  with  a  key  opposite  each  name  or  each  question,  and  the  candi 
date  votes  his  choice  by  pressing  certain  keys. 

825.  Good  election  machinery,  however,  is  not  enough. 
Good  nomination  machinery  is  quite  as  important.  The  people 
must  have  a  fair  chance  to  express  their  will  in  selecting  the 
candidates  between  whom  the  final  choice  must  be  made.  This  is 
the  aim  of  a  movement  for  "  direct  primaries." 

1  Most  States  now  require  that  every  voter  shall  "  register  "  some  time  be 
fore  election,  and  no  one  can  vote  on  election  day  whose  name  does  not  appear 
on  the  registration  list.  This  device  prevents  "  repeating  "  and  the  importing 
of  voters  from  other  precincts.  The  registration  lists  are  published  before 
election,  so  that  errors  or  frauds  may  be  detected. 


686  MORE   DIRECT   DEMOCRACY  [§  826 

Under  the  old  system  of  nominating  caucuses  and  conventions 
(§  569)  rarely  did  a  tenth  of  the  voters  take  any  part  in  nomi 
nations.  The  matter  was  left  to  the  political  "machines." 
Or,  if  a  popular  contest  did  take  place,  the  result  was  often 
determined  by  fraud  or  trickery  or  by  absolute  violence.  In 
1897  the  young  Robert  M.  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  smarting 
under  undeserved  defeat  in  boss-owned  nominating  conven 
tions,  worked  out  a  complete  system  of  "  direct  primaries  " 
for  State  and  Nation,  and  began  to  agitate  for  its  adoption. 
In  1901,  Minnesota  adopted  the  plan,  and  it  is  now  (1917)  in 
force  in  nearly  half  the  States. 

826.  More  significant  than  choice  of  officials  is  direct  control 
by  the  people  over  the  laws  which  officials  are  to  carry  out.  As 
a  rule,  even  in  "  democracies,"  the  people  have  governed  them 
selves  only  indirectly.  They  have  chosen  representatives ; 
and  these  delegated  individuals  have  made  the  laws,  —  some 
times  with  little  response  to  popular  desires.  Radical  demo 
crats  demand  that  the  people  take  a  more  direct  and  effective 
part  in  lawmaking  by  the  referendum  and  the  initiative. 

The  referendum  is  the  older  device.  It  consists  merely  in 
referring  to  a  popular  vote  for  final  confirmation  a  law  which 
has  already  passed  the  legislature  or  the  State  convention. 
The  practice  originated  in  Massachusetts  in  the  ratification  of 
the  State  constitution,  in  1778  and  1780  (§  265).  Since  1820 
it  has  been  used  almost  always  in  our  States  for  the  ratifica 
tion  of  new  constitutions  or  constitutional  amendments ;  and 
there  has  been  a  growing  tendency  to  submit  to  popular  vote 
also,  in  State  or  city,  questions  of  liquor  licensing,  bond  issues, 
and  public  ownership.  For  more  than  a  half  century,  Switzer 
land  l  has  carried  the  practice  much  further.  There  a  certain 
number  of  voters  by  petition  may  compel  the  legislature  to 
submit  any  law  to  popular  decision. 

Switzerland  also  developed  the  true  complement  to  the  ref 
erendum  ;  namely,  the  initiative.  By  1870,  in  nearly  all  the 

i  Modern  World,  §  854. 


§826]     REFERENDUM,   INITIATIVE,   AND  RECALL     687 

cantons  (States),  a  small  number  of  voters  could  frame  any 
law  they  desired,  which  the  legislature  then  was  compelled  to 
submit  to  a  popular  vote ; l  and  in  1891  this  principle  was 
adopted  for  the  Swiss  federal  government. 

The  profitable  working  of  these  devices  in  Switzerland  led 
to  a  new  enthusiasm  for  them  in  America ;  and  by  1905  they 
had  become  among  the  most  prominent  matters  on  progressive 
platforms.  In  many  Western  States  they  are  already  in  force. 
Mr.  William  Uren  (§  823),  in  an  address  before  the  City  Club 
of  Chicago  in  1909,  described  their  working  in  Oregon  as 
follows :  — 

"  By  the  initiative  .  .  .  eight  per  cent  of  the  voters  are  authorized  to 
file  with  the  secretary  of  state,  not  less  than  four  months  before  a  general 
election,  their  petition  demanding  the  reference  to  the  people  of  any 
measure.  .  .  .  The  full  text  of  the  measure  must  be  included  in  the 
petition,  and  one  petition  will  take  only  one  measure. 

"  The  referendum  provides  that  five  per  cent  of  the  voters,  at  anytime 
within  ninety  days  after  the  close  of  a  session  of  the  legislature,  may  file 
their  petition  demanding  the  submission  of  any  measure  passed  by  that 
legislature.  The  law  is  thereby  held  up  until  the  next  election.  It  does 
not  take  effect  until  it  has  been  voted  on  and  affirmed  by  the  people  ;  and 
the  vote  required  is  a  majority  of  those  who  vote  on  the  question. 

"  Our  law  for  the  operation  of  the  initiative  and  referendum  was 
amended  in  1907,  providing  that  the  secretary  of  state  should  order  to  be 
printed  and  distributed  by  mail  to  every  registered  voter,  about  three 
months  before  the  election,  a  copy  of  all  the  measures  that  were  sub 
mitted,  and  all  the  arguments  that  were  offered  for  and  against  them, 
principally  at  the  expense  of  the  State.  Those  offering  arguments  are 
required  to  pay  the  actual  cost  of  the  paper,  printing,  and  press  work  used 
for  their  arguments,  but  not  for  the  measure,  so  that  it  costs  [the  State] 
about  seventy-five  dollars  a  printed  page  for  argument.  It  made  a  book 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  pages  last  year,  and  the  people  read  it." 

This  feature  of  the  "  Oregon  plan  "  affords  the  best  political 
education  yet  offered  any  great  people.  California  adopted  it 
in  full  in  1911. 

1  This  device  also  originated  in  America  in  Revolutionary  days,  in  a  pro 
vision  for  amending  the  constitution  of  Georgia,  but  it  took  no  real  root  at 
that  time. 


688  MORE   DEMOCRACY  [§  827 

827.  The "  recall "  provides  that  a  certain  percentage  of 
voters,  on  petition,  can  at  any  time  force  any  official  to  stand 
for  election  again  in  opposition  to  some  new  candidate.1 

The  advantage  of  the  arrangement  over  waiting  for  a  new  election  in 
one  or  two  years,  —  or  several  years,  in  case  of  judicial  officers,  —  is  that  it 
concentrates  attention  upon  the  one  official.  At  a  regular  election,  the 
matter  is  complicated  by  party  issues  and  by  the  distractions  due  to  choos 
ing  many  other  officials.  Opponents  of  the  recall  fear  that  the  people 
will  use  the  power  hastily,  especially  in  pique  toward  judicial  officers 
without  due  understanding  of  the  technical  points  involved  in  judicial 
decisions  that  have  offended.  The  reply,  of  course,  is  that  if  the  people 
are  fit  to  choose  untried  men  to  decide  such  technical  points,  they  must 
be  fit  to  choose  whether  they  will  keep  such  men  after  trial.  Presumably, 
when  the  people  possess  this  power,  it  will  not  have  to  be  invoked  often. 
So  far,  it  has  not  been  abused  (1917),  and  in  several  cases  its  use  has  done 
much  good. 

In  1906  Oregon  adopted  a  constitutional  amendment  making 
every  elective  officer  in  the  State  subject  to  "  recall."  In  1908, 
when  Arizona  applied  for  Statehood,  she  placed  a  like  provision 
in  her  constitution.  Statehood  was  delayed  for  some  time  on 
this  account.  Finally  in  the  summer  of  1911  a  bill  for  ad 
mission  passed  Congress  with  a  provision  requiring  the  territory 
first  to  Tfote  once  more  upon  this  clause  of  the  proposed  consti 
tution.  President  Taft  vetoed  this  bill,  and,  at  his  insistence, 
Statehood  was  offered  only  on  condition  that  the  people  of 
Arizona  should  first  vote  down  the  recall  provision.  This 
was  done  in  December,  1911 ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  all  the 
political  leaders  of  the  territory  proclaimed  in  advance  that, 
Statehood  once  secured,  they  would  work  to  restore  the  recall 
to  the  constitution.  This  threat  was  made  good  in  1912. 

Meantime,  President  Taft's  attempt  to  force  a  whole  people 
into  stultifying  itself  awoke  wide  popular  indignation,  espe 
cially  in  the  progressive  West.  In  the  fall  of  1911,  Washington 
placed  the  recall  in  its  constitution  for  all  officers  except  the 
judiciary,  and  California,  by  a  vote  of  three  to  one,  adopted  an 
amendment  for  the  recall,  including  application  to  judges. 

1  An  early  example  of  a  true  "  recall  "  in  America  is  mentioned  in  §  302. 


§  829]  WOMAN   SUFFRAGE  689 

828.  For  many  years  there  was  an  unmistakable  demand  by 
a  great   majority  of   the   people   for  an  amendment   to   the 
National  Constitution  to  provide  for  direct  election  of  Senators. 
Time  after  time  the   necessary  resolution   passed    the   Rep 
resentatives,  only  to  be  smothered  or  voted  down  in  the  upper 
House,  which  had  no  desire  to  be  brought  closer  to  the  people. 
Then  the  people  began  to  reach  their  end,  indirectly,  by  State 
action.     Again  Oregon  led  the  way.     In  1904  (and  again  in 
1908  by  a  vote  of  4  to  1),  that  State  (1)  provided  that  when  a 
United  States  Senator  was  to  be  chosen,  the  people,  at  the  elec 
tion  of  the  legislature,  might  express  their  choice  for  Senator ; 
and  (2)  ordered  all  members  of  the  legislature  to  obey  the 
choice  so  indicated.     This  plan  spread  swiftly,  and  by  1911  it 
was  in  force  in  nearly  half  the  States.     Then  the  people  turned 
again,  and  this  time  successfully,  to  Congress  for  nation-wide 
and  more  direct  action  (§§  839,  840). 

829.  Woman  suffrage,  like  most  of  these  democratic  reforms, 
has  always  been  strongest  in  the  West.     The  first  State  to 
grant  the  ballot  to  women  on  full  equality1  with  men  was 
Wyoming    at    its    admission    in    1890.      (The    Territory    of 
Wyoming  had  had  equal  suffrage  since  1869.)     Colorado  estab 
lished  the  reform  by  constitutional  amendment  in  1893.     In 
1896  Utah  became  the  third  suffrage  State,  "  completing  the 
trinity  of  true  Republics  at  the  summit  of  the  Rockies  "  ;  and 
Idaho  followed,  the  same  year. 

For  fifteen  years  no  new  commonwealth  was  won  to  the 
cause,  but  none  the  less  the  "  woman  movement "  was  making 
rapid  progress  in  politics,  in  industry,  and  in  social  recogni 
tion.  Then,  in  1910,  Washington  gave  women  the  full  ballot. 
California  did  so  in  her  reform  year,  1911.  The  democratic 
year,  1912  (§  842  ff.),  and  its  aftermath  in  1913-14,  raised  the 
total  number  of  suffrage  States  to  twelve  by  adding  Arizona, 
Kansas,  Oregon,  Nevada,  Montana,  and  Illinois.  In  1916 
some  4,000,000  women  voted  for  President  and  Congressmen. 

1  Many  States  have  long  allowed  a  modified  form  of  suffrage  to  women  in 
local  elections,  especially  in  school  elections. 


690  THE  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT  [§  830 

Illinois  had  been  the  only  State  so  far  east  of  the  Mississippi 
to  give  the  vote  to  women ;  and  there  the  result  was  reached  by 
legislative  action,  not  by  constitutional  amendment,  and  so 
could  not  extend  to  State  officers.  In  1917  this  "  Presidential 
suffrage  "  was  won  for  women  in  Indiana,  South  Dakota,  North 
Dakota,  Rhode  Island,  Michigan,  and  Nebraska;  and  at  the 
November  election  a  constitutional  amendment  gave  women 
the  complete  suffrage  in  the  great  State  of  New  York.  The 
overwhelming  weight  of  that  State  in  the  National  government 
gave  peculiar  importance  to  this  last  victory — spite  of  defeats 
at  the  same  election  in  Ohio  and  Maine  —  and  many  former 
opponents,  like  the  Outlook,  at  once  announced  that  they  laid 
down  their  arms  in  obedience  to  the  pronounced  will  of  the 
American  people. 

In  many  of  the  suffrage  States,  women  have  held  some  of 
the  most  important  offices.  Recently  they  have  sat  as  delegates 
in  National  Conventions ;  and  in  1916  Montana  sent  the  first 
Woman  Representative  to  Congress. 

830.  The   States,    renovated    by  this    democratic    machinery,   have 
turned  promptly  to  the  uplift  of  the  common  life  by  a  long  series  of  social 
reforms.     No  one  of  these  has  been  more  spectacular  in  its  rapid  victory 
than  the  new  Temperance  movement  of  the  last  ten  years  (1916).    A 
union  of  various  Anti-saloon  forces  (largely  independent  of  the  regular 
Prohibition  party)  has  made  half  the   States  "dry,"  and  has  set  up 
"  county  option  v  in  half  the  rest. 

One  factor  in  this  amazing  victory  calls  for  explanation .  The  Brewery 
Combine  went  into  politics.  Everywhere  it  fought  Woman  Suffrage — 
because  it  knew  women  would  fight  the  saloon.  It  fought  the  referendum 
and  initiative,  because  it  feared  the  people,  and  trusted  to  its  power  to 
corrupt  legislators.  It  fought  every  attempt  to  check  or  abolish  Special 
Privilege,  from  a  lively  expectation  of  political  help  to  be  received  in 
return.  It  fought  the  election  of  "reformers"  of  all  sorts,  to  protect 
itself  or  its  allies.  And  finally  reformers  of  all  sorts  learned  that  they 
must  fight  the  Liquor  power  —  as  a  step  toward  any  other  reform. 

B.     IN  THE  NATION 

831.  During   the   closing   twenty  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  a  group  of  aggressive  young  reformers  appeared  in 


§  832]  IN  NATIONAL  POLITICS  691 

public  life  •(§  733).  The  most  picturesque  among  them  was 
Theodore  Roosevelt  of  New  York,  —  police  commissioner  of 
New  York  City,  Civil  Service  Commissioner  (§  742),  Colonel  of 
the  "  Rough  Riders  »  in  the  Spanish  War  (§  760).  In  1898,  he 
was  overwhelmingly  elected  governor  of  New  York,  and  had 
begun  to  loom  up  as  a  possible  presidential  candidate,  to  the 
dread  of  the  Republican  machine.  In  the  Republican  Con 
vention  of  1900  the  bosses  joined  forces  to  shelve  him  by 
nominating  him  for  the  figurehead  vice-presidency,  against 
his  vehement  protest.  A  few  months  later,  the  assassination 
of  McKinley  made  him  President.  For  the  first  time  in  our 
history,  an  "accidental  President"  took  place  at  once  as  a 
popular  leader,  and  in  1904  he  was  triumphantly  reflected.1 

832.  The  seven  and  a  half  years  of  the  Roosevelt  adminis 
trations  mark  an  epoch.  In  public  addresses  the  strenuous 
President  denounced  in  startling  terms  the  insolence  and 
criminal  greed  of  aggregated  capital,  and  so  roused  the  whole 
people  to  the  need  of  action.  The  actual  achievements  of  the 
administration,  in  its  professed  work  of  curbing  the  trusts  and 
monopolies  were  less  significant.  Still  the  "  classified  list " 
under  the  "  civil  service  reform  "  law  was  extended  to  include 
even  the  smallest  country  postmasters  in  the  more  settled  half 
of  the  country ;  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  re 
vived  by  the  Hepburn  Amendment  (§  786) ;  suits  were  pressed 
vigorously  against  many  trusts  under  the  Sherman  Act  and 
Interstate  Commerce  law ; 2  the  scandalous  conditions  in  the 
Chicago  stockyards  were  investigated ;  a  Pure  Food  law 
forbade  Interstate  Commerce  in  adulterated  foods ; 3  and, 

1  The  Democratic  party  in  1904  was  believed  to  be  controlled  mainly  by  the 
Eastern  and  conservative  faction,  represented  by  the  candidate,  Judge  Alton 
B.  Parker.    The  radicals  were  not  satisfied  with  either  candidate ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  the  Republican  was  understood  to  promise  most  for  social  progress. 

2  During    the    preceding    administrations    of    Harrison,    Cleveland,    and 
McKinley,  there  had  been  in  all  16  prosecutions ;  in  Roosevelt's  seven  years 
there  were  44,  though  little  actual  check  to  the  trusts  resulted. 

8  State  laws  had  already  begun  a  long-needed  war  upon  noxious  adultera 
tions.  Said  Roosevelt,  in  one  of  his  catchy  phrases, —  "  No  man  may  poison  the 
public  for  private  gain." 


692 


THE  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT 


[§833 


most  important  of  all,  new  emphasis  was  given  to  the  "  conserva 
tion  1  of  National  resources  "  —  a  doctrine  formulated  by  Gifford 
Pinchot,  and  popularized  by  the  President. 

833.  President  Roosevelt  was  attacked  by  certain  of  the  "  in 
terests"  as  a  disturber  of  "prosperity  "  ;  but  he  had  a  hold  upon 
the  nation  such  as  no  other  Presidents  had  approached,  with 
the  exception  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Jackson,  and  Lincoln. 


THE  ARROW  KOCK  DAM  (Idaho),  still  building  in  1918:  part  of  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  all  the  government's  projects  to  irrigate  arid  lands.  This 
dam  is  67  feet  higher  than  the  great  Roosevelt  Dam  in  Arizona. 

At  the  same  time,  extreme  radicals  disliked  his  aggressive 
foreign  policy  (§  722)  and  his  inclination  to  paternalistic  des 
potism  at  home.  Such  critics  pointed  out  (1)  that  he  used 
his  tremendous  personal  and  official  power  to  aid  no  other  real 
"progressive"  in  any  of  the  many  State  contests  with  Privi 
lege  ;  (2)  that  his  trust  prosecutions  had  not  hurt  any  money 

iRead  Overton  Price's  The  Land    We  Live  In,—  "The  Boy's  Book  of 
Conservation." 


§  836]  IN   NATIONAL  POLITICS  693 

king ;  (3)  that  he  had  intimate  personal  relations  with  some 
of  the  trust  magnates, — heads  of  what  he  chose  to  call  "good 
trusts " ;  (4)  that  during  his  seven  years  the  number  of  trusts 
had  greatly  multiplied  and  their  capitalization  vastly  increased 
(§  792),  along  with  the  new  device  of  concentrating  power  by  the 
system  of  interlocking  directorates  (§  791)  ;  and  (5)  that  he  had 
as  yet  taken  no  stand  to  reform  the  tariff,  in  which  his  "  good 
trusts  "  were  deeply  interested. 

834.  In  October,  1907,  the  Knickerbocker  Trust  Company 
in  New  York  failed,  from  speculation  and  dishonest  manage 
ment,  and  brought  down  with  it  a  group  of  banks  supposed  to 
be  strong.      This  began  the  "  panic  of  1907."      Wall  Street,  and 
"Big  Business'7  generally,  attributed  the  panic  to  "Theodore 
the  Meddler,"  who,  they  asserted,  had  destroyed  public  con 
fidence  by  his  attacks  upon  the  commercial  interests.     Many 
radicals,  on  the  other  hand,   claimed  that  Big  Business  had 
"  manufactured  "  the  panic,  so  as  to  intimidate  the  President 
and  the  other  reformers  into  keeping  hands  off.     In  any  case, 
for  once,  the   cry  "  It  hurts   business "  failed   to  check  the 
current  for  reform. 

835.  Eoosevelt  thought  his  Secretary  of  War,  William  H. 
Taft,   especially  fitted    to    carry   on   his    reforms.      Accord 
ingly  in  1908,  he  forced  Taft  upon  the  Kepublicans  as  his 
successor.     The   Democrats   nominated   Bryan  for   the   third 
time.     Between  the  Eoosevelt  Eepublicans  of  that  time  and 
the  Bryan  Democrats  there  were  many  points  of  sympathy ; 
while  within  each  party  a  large  class  was  bitterly  opposed  to 
these  reform  policies,  and  desired  a  return  to  the  older  attitude 
of  the  government  as  a  promoter  of  business  prosperity  rather 
than  of  human  welfare.     Owing  to  the  general  confidence  of 
large  masses  in  Eoosevelt,  and  to  the  aid  given  the  Eepublicans 
by  aggregated  wealth,  Taft  was  elected  overwhelmingly. 

836.  As  Eoosevelt's  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Taft  had  been  a 
loyal  subordinate ;  but  now  it  soon  appeared  that  he  did  not 
himself  believe  in  the  "Eoosevelt  policies."     Instead,  he  be 
longed  distinctly  in  the  conservative  ranks. 


694  THE  PROGRESSIVE  MOVEMENT  [§  837 

A  group  of  capitalists  had  been  trying  to  engross  the 
mineral  wealth  of  Alaska,  in  part  by  fraudulent  entries. 
Roosevelt  had  checked  the  proceeding  by  temporarily  with 
drawing  the  lands  from  entry.  Richard  Ballinger  had  been 
the  attorney  of  the  grasping  ring  of  capitalists,  and  previously 
had  served  them  with  information  even  while  in  the  service  of 
the  government.  President  Taft  was  induced  to  appoint  this 
man  his  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  it  seemed  as  though 
the  grab  would  then  go  through  under  his  sanction.  The 
President  even  dismissed  both  Pinchot  (a  devoted  public 
servant  and  a  man  of  high  standing  in  the  nation)  and  also 
Louis  Glavis,  a  subordinate  of  Ballinger,  who  had  gallantly 
exposed  the  treacherous  designs  of  his  chief  with  necessary 
disregard  for  official  etiquette.1  Happily,  the  sacrifice  of 
Glavis,  the  war  waged  month  after  month  by  Collier's  Weekly, 
and  the  consequent  Congressional  investigation,  even  though  by 
a  packed  committee,  compelled  Ballinger  to  resign,  and  saved 
the  Alaskan  wealth  for  the  nation.  No  one  suspected  the 
President  of  corrupt  motives  ;  but  it  was  plain  that  the  corrupt 
interests  had  his  ear.  Other  events  made  his  position  clear. 
He  did  not  scruple  to  use  his  vast  power  of  patronage  to  injure 
progressive  Congressmen  in  their  home  districts. 

837.  Another  public  clash  between  President  Taft  and  the 
Progressives  came  on  the  tariff  question.  The  Republican  plat 
form  of  1908  had  declared  for  a  thoroughgoing  revision  of  the 
Dingley  Tariff  (§  747),  asserting  that  duties  ought  only  to 
"  equal  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  production  at  home 
and  abroad,  together  with  a  reasonable  profit  for  American 
industries." 2  Mr.  Taft,  too,  had  waged  his  campaign  largely 
on  definite  pledges  for  tariff  reduction.  Shrewd  observers 

1  Glavis'  "insubordination"  consisted  in  a  noble  patriotism  which  led  him 
to  show  fealty  to  the  American  people  rather  than  to  a  traitorous  superior  in 
office.    Such  patriotism,  more  needed  than  courage  on  the  battlefield,  cannot 
be  praised  too  highly. 

2  Somewhat  more  definitely,  the  Democratic  platform  declared  for  im 
mediate  reduction  of  duties  on  necessaries  and  for  placing  on  the  "  free  list " 
all  "  articles  entering  into  competition  with  trust-controlled  products." 


§  838]  AND  THE  ALDRICH  TARIFF  695 

doubted  somewhat  whether  the  politicians  of  the  party  were 
not  too  thoroughly  in  the  grip  of  the  trusts  to  make  any  real 
inroad  upon  the  protected  interests ;  and  the  result  justified 
the  skeptical  prophecies  that  any  revision  by  the  Republican 
machine  of  that  day  would  be  a  revision  upward.  Tlie  Payne- 
Aldrich  Tariff  of  1910,  while  making  improvements  at  a  few 
points,  actually  aggravated  the  evils  which  the  nation  had 
expected  to  have  remedied.  It  was  a  brazen  defiance  of  party 
pledges  in  the  campaign.  The  House  committee)  which  framed 
the  bill,  was  notorious,  made  up,  almost  to  a  man,  of  representa 
tives  of  beneficiaries  of  protection  —  a  clear  case  of  turning  the 
place  of  sheep  dogs  over  to  wolves. 

The  bill  and  the  committee  were  attacked  fiercely  by  a  great 
number  of  the  more  independent  Republican  papers  and 
leaders;  but  the  great  body  of  Republican  Congressmen,  it 
was  soon  clear,  would  "  stand  pat "  for  the  "  System."  A 
radical  section  then  broke  away  in  a  definite  "  Insurgent "  move 
ment.  In  the  House,  the  "  System "  Speaker,  "  Uncle  Joe " 
Cannon,  aided  by  the  necessary  number  of  "  System  "  Democrats, 
easily  forced  the  bill  through,  with  brief  consideration.  In  the 
Senate,  where  debate  could  not  so  easily  be  muzzled,  insurgent 
Republican  leaders  like  LaFollette  and  Cummins  exposed 
mercilessly  the  atrocities  of  the  measure,  though  they  could 
not  hinder  its  becoming  law.  And  then  the  compliant  Presi 
dent,  in  attempts  to  defend  his  "  Standpat "  friends  from  public 
criticism,  declared  it  the  best  tariff  ever  enacted. 

838.  The  Congressional  election  of  1910  was  a  revolution.  The 
overwhelming  Republican  majority  was  wiped  out  by  as  large 
a  Democratic  majority ;  and  in  various  impregnable  Repub 
lican  districts,  Insurgents  succeeded  Standpatters.  Even  in 
the  slowly  changing  Senate,  Democrats  and  Insurgents  to 
gether  mustered  a  clear  majority.  Some  progressive  legislation 
was  now  enacted.  A  "parcel  post "  law,  similar  to  those  long 
in  use  in  European  countries,  struck  down  the  infamous 
monopoly  of  the  great  express  companies  (§  731)  ;  the  ad 
mirable  "Children's  Bureau"  was  added  to  the  government 


696  THE   ELECTION   OF   1912  [§  839 

machinery ;  and  constitutional  amendments  were  at  last  sub 
mitted  to  the  people  providing  for  income  taxes1  and  direct 
election  of  Senators.1 

839.  Forty-five  years  had  elapsed  since  the  ratification  of  the  Civil 
War  amendments,  and  sixty  years  passed  between  those  and  the  last 
preceding  amendment,  despite  the  rapidly  changing  needs  of  the  nine 
teenth  century.    The  first  ten  amendments,  too,  were  really  part  of  a 
bargain  that  secured  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  itself;    the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  resulted  from  fear  of  civil  war  ;  and  the  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  were  secured  by  war.     These  two  last,  —  six 
teenth  and  seventeenth,  —  are  the  only  ' '  normal ' '  amendments  in  the 
century  and  a  quarter  of  our  national  history.    This  fact,  together  with 
the  indirect  devices  to  which  we  have  been  driven  (§§  347,  828),  suggests 
that  the  process  of  written  amendment  is  too  difficult.    One  of  the  fore 
most  subjects  in  the  progressive  program  is  some  "gateway"  amend 
ment,  to  make  that  process  easier. 

840.  The   movement    in   the    States  for  direct   action   in   choosing 
Senators  has  been  described  (§  828).     In  1911  the  notorious  purchase 
of  a  Senatorship  from  Illinois  by  "Big  Business"   for  a  certain   Mr. 
Lorimer  aroused  the  country  again  to  the  need  of  nation-wide  action. 
True,  a  Senate  committee  of  "Standpatters"  made  the  usual  white 
washing  report  on  the  Lorimer  case  ;  but  it  was  riddled  pitifully  by  the 
Insurgents  and  by  the  progressive  press.     Still  on  the  vote  to  expel,  the 
Standpatters  managed  to  rally  the  one-third  vote  necessary  to  save  their 
colleague.    A  resolution  for  an  amendment  to  provide  for  popular  elec 
tion  of  Senators  was  then  pending,  and  it  was  soon  after  defeated  by 
almost  precisely  the  same  vote.    But  in  the  spring  came  a  special  session 
of  the  new  Congress  with  large  progressive  gains ;  and,  in  1912,  Lorimer 
was  expelled  and  the  amendment  passed. 

841.  In    1912,    Roosevelt   announced  himself  a   candidate 
against   Taft   for   the    Republican    Presidential    nomination. 
There  followed  a  bitter  campaign  of  disgraceful  recrimination 
between  the  President  and  his  former  friend  and  chief.     In 
13  States,  Republican  voters  could  express   their   choice   for 
a  candidate  in  direct  primaries  (§  825).     Roosevelt  carried  9 
of  these ;  La  Follette,  2 ;  and  Taft,  2.     President  Taft,  how 
ever,  controlled  the  solid  mass  of  Southern  delegates  and  the 

1  See  §  746.    Both  amendments  were  ratified  in  1913. 


§  842J  BRYAN  AND   WILSON  697 

machinery  of  the  National  Convention.  The  credentials  com 
mittee  "  threw  out "  many  Roosevelt  delegations  from  States 
where  there  were  "  contests,"  and  Taft  won  the  nomination. 
Roosevelt  declared  the  nomination  "a  barefaced  steal,"  as 
serted  that  no  honest  man  could  vote  for  a  ticket  "  based  on 
dishonor,"  and  called  a  mass  meeting  of  progressives  to 
organize  a  new  party. 

842.  Meantime,  the  Democratic  Convention,  in  session  for  nine 
days  at  Baltimore,  made  significant  history.  In  this  party,  too, 
the  preceding  campaign  had  been  a  bitter  contest  between 
open  progressives  and  more  or  less  secret  reactionaries.  When 
the  Convention  met,  the  old  bosses  were  in  control  of  a  majority 
of  votes.  They  made  plain  their  intention  to  organize  the 
meeting  in  their  interest  by  putting  forward  for  the  temporary 
chairmanship  Judge  Alton  B.  Parker  (§  831).  Mr.  Bryan  had 
declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  again,  and  he 
now  stepped  forward  as  a  courageous  and  skillful  champion  of 
the  progressive  element,  waging  a  contest  that  finally  wrested 
control  from  the  bosses  and  turned  his  party  over  to  the  real 
democracy. 

Bryan  first  appealed  to  the  candidates  for  the  presidential 
nomination  to  oppose  the  bosses'  choice  for  chairman,  —  a  man 
"  conspicuously  identified,  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  with  the 
reactionary  element."  Woodrow  Wilson  alone  stood  this  "  acid 
test."  Other  candidates  evaded,  or  pleaded  for  harmony,  to 
avoid  offending  possible  supporters.  Wilson  frankly  and  cor 
dially  approved  Bryan's  purpose.  Thus  the  issue  was  drawn, 
and  Wilson  was  marked,  even  more  clearly  than  before,  as  the 
true  candidate  of  the  progressives.  The  bosses  seated  their 
man  for  chairman,  but  the  Democratic  masses  throughout  the 
country  shouted  approval  of  Bryan  and  Wilson. 

Next  Mr.  Bryan  startled  the  convention  and  the  country 
by  a  daring  resolution  —  declaring  the  convention  opposed 
to  the  nomination  of  any  candidate  "who  is  the  representa 
tive  of,  or  under  obligations  to,  J.  Pierpont '  Morgan,  Thomas 
F.  Ryan,  August  Belmont,  or  any  other  member  of  the  privi- 


698  THE   PROGRESSIVE   PARTY  [§  843 

lege-hunting  and  favor-seeking  class."  Two  of  the  gentle 
men  named  sat  in  the  Convention.  In  the  debate  Mr.  Bryan 
said :  — 

"  Extraordinary  conditions  need  extraordinary  remedies.  .  .  .  There 
is  not  a  delegate  who  does  not  know  that  an  effort  is  being  made  right 
now  to  sell  the  Democratic  party  into  bondage  to  the  predatory  interests 
of  the  country.  It  is  the  most  brazen,  the  most  insolent,  the  most  impu 
dent  attempt  that  has  been  made  in  the  history  of  American  politics  to 
dominate  a  convention,  stifle  the  honest  sentiment  of  a  people,  and  make 
the  nominee  the  bond  slave  of  the  men  who  exploit  this  country.  .  .  . 
No  sense  of  politeness  to  such  men  will  keep  me  from  protecting  my  party 
from  the  disgrace  they  inflict  upon  it." 

Few  delegates  dared  vote  against  the  resolution. 

In  the  balloting  Champ  Clark'  of  Missouri  at  one  time  had  a 
majority  of  the  delegates,  but  the  Democratic  rule  requires  a 
two-thirds  majority.  As  the  balloting  proceeded  slowly  day 
after  day,  Wilson  gained  steadily,  mainly  because  of  thousands 
of  telegrams  from  "  the  people  at  home,"  threatening,  urging, 
imploring  their  representatives  to  support  Bryan's  leadership 
and-  Wilson's  candidacy.  On  the  forty-sixth  ballot  Wilson 
was  nominated.  The  progressive  element,  which  had  failed  in 
the  Republican  Convention,  had  conquered  in  the  Democratic. 

843.  Soon  another  progressive  ticket  was  in  the  field.     Roose 
velt's  friends  proceeded  with  their  new  organization,  took  the 
name  the  Progressive  party,  and  nominated  Roosevelt  upon  an 
admirable  radical  platform  which  included  Woman  Suffrage. 
Many  ardent  reformers  rallied  to  this  long-desired  opportunity 
for  a  new  alignment  in  politics  (cf.  §  392)  ;  but  a  large  number 
of  their  old  associates  felt  that  the  movement  was  too  much 
dominated  by  one  man's  ambition,  and  that  it  was  ill-timed  at 
best  when  the  Baltimore  nomination  had  offered  so  admirable 
an  opportunity  to  progressives. 

844.  Wilson  was  elected  by  the  largest  electoral  plurality  in 
our  history,  the  vote  standing,  —  Wilson,  435  ;  Roosevelt,  88  ; 
Taft,  8.     Wilson's  popular  vote  exceeded  that  of  Roosevelt  by 
over  two  million ;  and  Roosevelt's  was  nearly  700,000  more  than 


§  845]  WOODROW  WILSON  699 

Taft's.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  plain  that  the  result  was  due 
to  the  split  in  the  Republican  party.  Mr.  Wilson  was  far 
from  getting  a  popular  majority  :  indeed  he  had  fewer  votes 
than  the  defeated  Bryan  got  four  years  before. 

845.  Mr.  Wilson's  first  two  years  (1913-1914)  saw  a  remark 
able  record  of  political  promises  fulfilled.  He  called  Congress 
at  once  in  a  special  session,  and  kept  it  at  work  continuously 
for  almost  the  whole  twenty-four  months.  The  three  great 
problems  were  the  Tariff,  the  Currency,  and  the  Trusts.  Each 
was  dealt  with  fully,  after  careful  consideration. 

The  Underwood  Tariff  was  a  genuine  "  revision  downward," 
and  its  making  was  at  least  less  influenced  by  great  "  special 
interests  "  than  that  of  any  tariff  since  the  Civil  War.  Busi 
ness  had  wailed  "  Ruin " ;  but  no  ruin  came,  and  business 
quickly  accepted  the  new  situation.  How  far  this  condition 
was  due  to  the  artificial  "  protection  "  afforded  by  the  Euro 
pean  War,  it  is  impossible  as  yet  to  say. 

The  Federal  Reserve  Act  revised  the  banking  laws,  made 
the  currency  of  the  country  more  elastic,  and  checked  the  pos 
sibility  of  its  being  controlled  by  the  "  money  trust."  A  few 
months  later  (July,  1914)  the  unexpected  outbreak  of  the  Euro 
pean  war  closed  the  great  money  centers  of  the  world  without 
warning ;  but  in  this  country  no  bank  felt  obliged  to  call  its 
loans.  Admirers  of  the  law  claim  that  it  has  made  the  old- 
fashioned  "  panic  "  almost  impossible ;  and  certainly  many  of 
the  great  banks  which  had  cried  "  Ruin "  at  the  prospect  of 
the  law  soon  became  its  warm  supporters. 

A  Federal  Trade  Commission  was  created,  to  investigate 
complaints  of  unfair  dealing  by  large  concerns  toward  smaller 
competitors  and  to  provide  helpful  information  and  advice 
when  appealed  to  by  legitimate  business.  This  new  beneficent 
branch  of  the  government  holds  a  place  'in  the  field  of 
trade  much  like  that  of  the  great  Interstate  Commerce  Com 
mission  in  the  field  of  transportation.  At  the  same  time  the 
Clayton  Anti-Trust  Act  sought  to  check  the  evil  of  "  interlocking 
directorates  "  (§  791)  and  it  certainly  gave  the  courts  clear  rules 


700  WOODROW  WILSON  [§  846 

for  dealing  with  Trust  offenses  in  place  of  the  troublesome 
vagueness  of  the  old  Sherman  law. 

In  addition  to  meeting  so  the  three  pressing  problems,  the 
administration  secured  a  law  for  a  graduated  income  tax  shift- 
Ing  the  burden  of  government  in  part  from  the  poor  to  the 
very  rich.  Quite  as  important  was  a  new  and  needed  protec 
tion  given  to  labor  unions.  The  courts  had  begun  to  threaten 
unions  with  punishment  for  strikes,  under  the  provision  of  the 
Sherman  law  forbidding  "  conspiracies  in  restraint  of  trade." 
The  Clayton  Act  expressly  exempted  labor  combinations  from  such 
prosecution.  "  The  labor  of  a  human  being,"  runs  this  noble 
provision,  "  is  not  an  article  of  commerce."  Equally  pleasing 
to  Labor  was  another  law  checking  the  tendency  to  "  govern 
ment  by  injunction"  (§  811). 

President  Wilson  had  long  been  known  as  a  leading  Ameri 
can  scholar,  a  brilliant  writer,  and  a  great  teacher  and  uni 
versity  president ;  but  his  warmest  admirers  had  hardly  hoped 
for  such  efficient  leadership  from  "the  schoolmaster  in 
politics."  This  splendid  constructive  record  was  his  work. 
Much  of  the  legislation  he  planned  in  detail ;  all  of  it  he 
helped  plan ;  and  he  carried  it  all  to  victory  by  a  party  long 
unused  to  union  and  with  large  elements  ready  to  rebel  if  they 
dared.  He  won  his  victory,  too,  not  by  abusing  his  power  of 
patronage  to  keep  Congressmen  in  line,  but  by  sheer  skill  and 
force  of  character,  aided  by  the  general  consciousness  that  the 
nation  was  rallying  to  his  program. 

846.  The  second  half  of  this  first  term  was  darkened  and  con 
fused  by  terrible  foreign  complications  (§  847  ff.) ;  but  these 
years,  too,  saw  sound  progress  in  domestic  reform.  A  Good 
Roads  laio  offered  national  aid  to  the  States  in  building  roads, 
so  as  to  bring  the  farmer's  market  nearer  to  him.  Tlie  Smith- 
Lever  Agricultural  Education  Act  offered  cooperation  with  the 
States  in  teaching  the  farmer  how  to  use  the  soil  more  profit 
ably.  And  the  Rural  Credits'  law  made  the  first  attempt  in  our 
history  to  get  for  the  farmer  the  credit  and  the  low  interest 
commonly  enjoyed  by  other  business  interests.  The  Railroad 


§  846] 


RECORD  LEGISLATION 


701 


Eight-Hour  law,  hastily  as  it  was  enacted  (§  814),  saved  the 
country  from  unspeakable  calamity  and  once  more  proved  the 
President's  sympathy  with  labor.  A  Workman's  Compensation 
law  (§  813  e),  of  the  most  advanced  character,  was  made  to 


BUILDING  THE  "  PACIFIC  HIGHWAY  "  THROUGH  OREGON. 
From  a  photograph. 

apply  to  all  Federal  employees.  And  the  Child-Labor  law 
(§  813  b)  began  to  free  the  children  of  the  South  from  crushing 
labor  in  factories  and  mines. 

The  last  two  of  these  bills  had  passed  the  House,  but  were  being  still 
held  up  in  the  Senate  in  August  of  1916.  The  end  of  the  session  was 
near.  President  Wilson  made  one  of  his  quiet  visits  to  the  Senate  wing 
of  the  Capitol,  met  the  Democratic  leaders  there,  and  demanded  that  they 
pass  both  bills  before  adjournment.  The  bills  were  passed.  Said  a 
hostile  periodical  —  "That  is  'polities'  but  it  is  politics  in  a  high  and 
statesmanlike  sense  of  the  word." 


702  FOREIGN  PERILS  [§  847 

847.  Foreign  perils,  however,  were  the  chief  mark  of  Presi 
dent  Wilson's  second  two  years  —  foreign  perils  more  compli 
cated  and  threatening  than  any  President  before  him  has  had 
to  meet.  For  some  years  Mexico  had  been  weltering  in  politi 
cal  assassination  and  revolution.  Finally  the  "  Constitution 
alist  "  chief  Carranza  became  master ;  remained  so,  largely 
because  of  "  recognition  "  by  the  United  States  ;  and  set  himself 
stubbornly  to  the  gigantic  task  of  rebuilding  his  country.  His 
few  months'  rule  has  seen  much  solid  progress  ;  but  as  yet  he 
has  not  been  able  at  all  times  to  keep  down  revolt  and  brigand 
age.  The  Mexican  people  hate  and  fear  Americans ;  and 
bandits  have  repeatedly  taken  our  citizens  from  Mexican  rail 
road  trains  to  murder  them,  and  have  even  raided  American 
towns  across  the  border,  with  every  form  of  outrage.  Few 
wars  in  history  have  had  as  much  provocation  as  Mexicans 
have  offered  the  United  States.  Great  American  financial 
interests,  too,  hungry  to  seize  upon  the  raw  wealth  of  the  rich 
Southland,  have  clamored  for  American  "  intervention "  to 
restore  order  in  Mexico ;  and  a  deplorably  large  part  of  our 
nation,  with  our  customary  harsh  lack  of  understanding  of 
alien  peoples,  feel  that  we  must  "  clean  up  "  Mexico  by  taking 
it  away  from  a  race  incapable  of  civilization.  But  President 
Wilson,  with  a  noble  sympathy  for  a  distressed  people  feeling 
its  way  blindly  toward  a  national  life,  has  held  resolutely  to  a 
policy  of  "  watchful  waiting."  He  has  even  charged  that  the 
Mexican  disorders  are  largely  due  to  secret  incitement  and 
support  from  American  business  interests,  determined  to  em 
broil  the  two  countries  in  war.  Hostile  critics  loudly  accuse 
his  policy  as  responsible  for  the  unavenged  murder  of  Ameri 
can  citizens.  Supporters  affirm  that  the  policy  is  not  only 
right  but  wise.  Nothing  else,  they  urge,  could  have  done  so 
much  to  allay  the  ancient  distrust  felt  toward  us  by  all  our 
Latin-American  neighbors  upon  the  continent,  North  and 
South,  whose  friendship  we  so  much  desire. 

The  more  formidable  European  dangers  call  for  a  separate 
chapter. 


CHAPTER   LXVII 
THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY 

848.  FOR  nearly  half  a  century  Germany  had  been  ruled  by 
a   Prussian   despotism  resting   upon  a  bigoted,  arrogant   oli 
garchy.     That  rule  had  conferred  on  Germany  many  benefits. 
It  had  cared  for  the  people  as  zealously  as  the  herdsman  cares 
for  the  flocks  he  expects  to  shear.     But   in  doing  so  it  had 
amazingly  transformed  the   old   peace-loving,  gentle  German 
people. 

It  had  taught  that  docile  race  (1)  to  bow  to  Authority,  rather 
than  to  Eight ; 1  (2)  to  believe  Germany  stronger,  wiser,  better, 
than  "  decaying  "  England,  "  decadent  and  licentious  "  France, 
"  uncouth  and  anarchic  "  Russia,  or  "  money-serving  "  America  ; 
(3)  to  be  ready  to  accept  a  program,  at  the  word  of  command, 
for  imposing  German  Kultur  upon  the  rest  of  the  world  by 
force  ;  (4)  to  regard  war,  even  aggressive  war,  not  as  horrible 
and  sinful,  but  as  beautiful,  noble,  desirable,  and  right,  —  the 
final  measure  of  a  nation's  worth,  and  the  divinely  appointed 
means  for  saving  the  world  by  German  conquest ;  and  finally 
(5)  to  disregard  ordinary  morality,  national  or  individual,  when 
ever  it  might  interfere  with  the  victory  of  the  "  Fatherland." 

Insensibly  to  most  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  this  rabid  and 
diseased  patriotism  of  the  Germans  had  become  a  menace  to 
freedom  and  civilization. 

849.  "  Out  of  Their  Own  Mouths."  - 

"War    is  the    noblest  and  holiest  expression  of  human  activity. 

For  us,  too,  the  glad,  great  hour  of  battle  will  strike.     Still  and  deep  in  the 
German  heart  must  live  the  joy  of  battle  and  the  longing  for  it.     Let  us 

1  Observers  have  often  confounded  this, trait  with  "  respect  for  law,"  — its 
precise  opposite. 

703 


704  THE   WAR  FOR   DEMOCRACY  [§  849 

ridicule  to  the  utmost  the  old  women  in  breeches  who  fear  war  and  de 
plore  it  as  cruel  and  revolting.  No  ;  war  is  beautiful.  Its  august  sub 
limity  elevates  the  human  heart  beyond  the  earthly  and  the  common. 
In  the  cloud  palace  above  sit  the  heroes  Frederick  the  Great  and  Bliicher  ; 
and  all  the  men  of  action  —  the  great  Emperor,  Moltke,  Roon,  Bismarck 
—  are  there  as  well,  but  not  the  old  women  who  would  take  away  our 
joy  in  war.  .  .  .  That  is  the  heaven  of  young  Germany."  —  Jung 
Deutschland,  October,  1913  (the  official  organ  of  the  "  Young  German 
League,"  an  organization  corresponding  in  a  way  to  our  Boy  Scouts). 

"  Germany's  mission  is  to  rejuvenate  exhausted  Europe  by  a  diffusion 
of  Germanic  blood. "  —  School  and  Fatherland,  1913  (a  school  manual). 

"  Our  fathers  have  left  us  much  to  do.  ...  To-day  it  is  for  Germany 
to  arise  from  a  European  to  a  world  power.  .  .  .  Humanitarian  dreams 
are  imbecility.  .  .  .  Right  and  wrong  are  notions  indispensable  in  private 
life.  The  German  people  are  always  right,  because  they  number 
87,000,000  souls." — TANNENBERG,  Gross-Deutschland,  1913. 

"We  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  God  has  called  us  to  civilize  the 
world.  .  .  .  We  are  the  missionaries  of  human  progress. " 

—  WILHELM  II,  speech  at  Bremen,  March  22,  1900. 

"Even  in  the  distance,  and  on  the  farther  side  of  the  ocean,  without 
Germany  and  the  German  Emperor,  no  great  decision  dare  henceforth  be 
taken."  — WILHELM  II,  at  Kiel,  July  3,  1900. 

"  It  is  to  the  empire  of  the  world  that  the  German  genius  aspires." 
—  WILHELM  II,  address,  June  20,  1902. 

"  The  world  owes  its  civilization  to  Germany  alone.  .  .  .  The  time  is 
near  when  the  earth  must  be  conquered  by  the  Germans." 

—  WIRTH,  Weltmacht  in  der  Geschichte  (1901). 

"Ye  shall  love  peace  as  a  means  to  new  wars,  and  the  short  peace 
better  than  the  long.  .  .  .  You  say,  a  good  cause  hallows  even  war  ;  but 
I  tell  you,  a  good  war  hallows  every  cause." 

—  NIETZSCHE,  Of  Wars  and  Warriors.     (Nietzsche  is  a  leader  of  Ger 
man  thought.) 

"  War  is  part  of  the  divinely  appointed  order.  .  .  .  War  is  both  justi 
fiable  and  moral,  and  the  idea  of  perpetual  peace  is  not  only  impossible 
but  also  immoral." 

—  TREITSCHKE,  Politics,  1916,  II,  597,  599.    (Treitschke  for  many  years 
has  been  a  leader  among  German  historians.) 


§  850]  GERMAN   "  EULTUR  "  705 

"  We  must  strenuously  combat  the  peace  propaganda.  .  .  .  War  is  a 
political  necessity.  .  .  .  Without  war  there  could  be  neither  racial  nor 
cultural  progress. 

"  Might  is  the  supreme  right,  and  what  is  right  is  decided  by  war. 

"  It  is  presumptuous  to  think  a  weak  nation  is  to  have  the  same  right  to 
live  as  a  powerful  and  vigorous  nation. 

"The  inevitableness  and  ...  the  blessedness  of  war,  as  the  indispen 
sable  law  of  development,  must  be  repeatedly  emphasized." 

—  BERNHARDI,  a  Prussian  general,  in  his  book,  The  Next  War,  in  1912. 

"It  is  only  by  trust  in  our  good  sword  that  we  shall  be  able  to  main 
tain  that  place  in  the  sun  which  belongs  to  us,  and  which  the  world  does 
not  seem  very  willing  to  allow  ws." 

—  CROWN  PRINCE,  in  Deutschland  in  Waffen,  1913. 

' '  Do  not  forget  the  civilizing  task  which  Providence  assigns  us.  Just 
as  Prussia  was  destined  to  be  the  nucleus  of  Germany,  so  the  new  Ger 
many  shall  be  the  nucleus  of  a  future  Empire  of  the  West.  .  .  .  We 
will  successively  annex  Denmark,  Holland,  Belgium,  .  .  .  and  finally 
northern  France.  ...  No  coalition  in  the  world  can  stop  us." 

—  BARON  VON  SCHELLENDORF,  Prussian  War-Minister,  in  1872. 

"  The  salvation  of  Germany  can  be  attained  only  by  the  annihilation 
of  the  smaller  states."  —  TREITSCHKE,  Politics. 

And  so  on  almost  without  end.  Says  Guy  Stanton  Ford  in 
his  Foreword  to  Conquest  and  Kultur,1  a  notable  collection  of 
these  evil  teachings  :  — 

"  It  is  a  motley  throng  who  are  here  heard  in  praise  of  war  and  inter 
national  suspicion  and  conquest  and  intrigue  and  devastation  —  emperors, 
kings,  princes,  poets,  philosophers,  educators,  journalists,  legislators, 
manufacturers,  militarists,  statesmen.  Line  upon  line,  precept  upon 
precept,  they  have  written  this  ritual  of  envy  and  broken  faith  and 
rapine.  Before  them  is  the  war  god  to  whom  they  have  offered  up  their 
reason  and  their  humanity  ;  behind  them,  the  misshapen  image  they 
have  made  of  the  German  people,  leering  with  bloodstained  visage  over 
the  ruins  of  civilization." 

850.  True,  in  other  lands,  even  in  America,  lonely  voices 
are  heard  speaking  this  same  doctrine  of  insolent  and  ruthless 

1  A  volume  of  171  pages  that  should  be,  and  probably  is,  in  every  school 
library.  Issued  by  the  United  States  Committee  on  Public  Information,  and 
printed  at  Washington  by  the  Government  Printing  Office. 


706  THE  WAR  FOR   DEMOCRACY  [§  851 

Might.  But  in  these  other  lands  any  such  occasional  voice  is 
smothered  at  once  by  storms  of  indignant  rebuke.  In  Ger 
many,  for  fifty  years,  this  war-worship  has  encountered  almost 
no  protest  —  except  a  feeble  one  from  the  socialists.  True, 
again,  no  great  country  —  not  England  nor  France  nor  America 

—  has  been  wholly  free  from  greed  for  territory  and  for  trade, 

—  just  such  greed  as  lies  at  the  root  of  most  wars.     But  in 
these  lands  the  time  is  past  when  public  opinion  will  support 
an  aggressive  war,  especially  with  a  civilized   people,  waged 
openly  and  avowedly  to  satisfy  such  low  ambitions.     Meanwhile, 
Germany,  led  by  her  war-besotted  prophets,  has  been  zealously 
making  ready  for  just  such  wars  of  greed. 

851.  The  world  knows  how,  half  a  century  ago,  Bismarck 
prepared  his  "  trilogy  of  wars "  —  of  which  he  boasted  inso 
lently —  in  order  to  make  Prussia  mistress  of  Germany.     So 
for  twenty-five  years  the  present  rulers  of  Germany  prepared 
vaster  war  to  make  Germany  mistress  of   the  world.     They 
hoarded  gold  in  the  war  chest ;  heaped  up  arms  and  munitions, 
and  huge  stocks  of  material    to  manufacture  more ;   secretly 
tried  out  new  inventions  on  a  vast  scale,  —  submarines,  zeppe- 
lins,  poison  gas,  new  explosives  ;  created  a  navy  to  meet  Eng 
land  on  the  sea;  bound  other  ruling  houses  to  their  own  by 
marriage  or  by  placing  Hohenzollerns  directly  on  the  thrones 

—  in   Russia,  Greece,  Bulgaria,    Roumania ;    reorganized   the 
Turkish  empire  and  filled  offices  in  the  army  and  navy  there 
with  Germans  ;  permeated  every  other  great  country,  in  the  Old 
World  and  New,  with  an  insidious  and  treacherous  system  of 
tens  of  thousands  of  spies  in   the   guise  of   friendship ;   and 
steadily  built  up  the  German  army  until  the  burden  of  main 
taining  it  became  so  crushing   that   plainly  it  must  soon  be 
used  or  thrown  away. 

852.  In  1914  the  German  war-lords  were  getting  anxious  to  use 
this  preparation  before  it  grew  stale,  and   before  France  and 
Russia  —  both  somewhat  alarmed  —  should  have  time  to  make 
ready  for  the  struggle.     And  events  gave  the  war  party  its 
chance.     In  the  last  days  of  June  an  Austrian  Grand  Duke 


§  854]  GERMANY  FORCES  WAR  707 

and  his  wife  were  murdered  in  Bosnia.  Bosnia  was  a 
Serbian  province  which  Austria  had  recently  seized,  and 
very  possibly  the  assassins  were  Serb  conspirators  against 
Austrian  rule.  Austria  and  her  mistress,  Germany,  had  long 
looked  greedily  toward  more  Serb  territory ;  and  Europe  now 
trembled  for  a  moment  lest  this  murder  should  bring  on  war. 
If  Austria,  backed  by  Germany,  should  attack  little  Serbia, 
Russia  was  bound  to  defend  that  country,  both  by  honor  and 
by  her  interests ;  and,  in  such  a  conflict,  France  was  bound  to 
aid  Russia,  her  long-time  ally  (Modern  World,  §  914). 

853.  A  month  passed   quietly,  and  these  fears  died   down. 
That  month  ended  the  German  harvest,  and  it  was  used  by 
the  German  government  in  ceaseless  but  secret  preparations  to 
strike.     Then,  absolutely  without  warning,  Austria  sent  to  little 
Serbia  an  "  ultimatum  "  harsh  almost  beyond  belief.     Along  with 
a  list  of  other  humiliations,  Serbia  was  ordered  to  surrender 
for  punishment  certain  army  officers  —  against  whom  no  evi 
dence  had   been   presented  —  and   virtually  to  give  over  her 
government  into  Austrian  control.     Only  48  hours  were  allowed 
for  acceptance.     Serbia  made  an  extremely  conciliatory  reply, 
accepting  nearly  all   the  Austrian   demands,   and   suggesting 
further  consideration,  or  arbitration,  for  the  rest. 

The  same  day  Austria  withdrew  her  ambassador.  She 
hesitated,  however,  to  precipitate  war,  by  any  direct  stroke ; 
but  Germany,  who  all  along  had  pulled  the  strings,  did  force  on 
the  struggle.  England's  urgent  suggestions  for  arbitration 
she  contemptuously  rejected.  Charging  falsely  that  unpre 
pared  Russia  had  mobilized  against  her,  Germany  did  mobilize. 
Charging  falsely  that  France  had  invaded  Belgium's  neutrality, 
Germany  did  invade  Belgian  territory  —  despite  Prussia's  most 
solemn  pledge  —  in  order  to  find  an  unguarded  road  into 
France. 

854.  England,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  would  not  have  looked  on  to 
see  France  crushed;   but  in  any  case  the  brutal  invasion  of 
Belgium,  whom  she  was  sworn  to  protect,  brought  her  at  once 
into  the  war.     Germany  had  been  certain  that  "  shop-keeping  " 


708  THE  WAR  FOR   DEMOCRACY  [§  855 

England  would  not  fight.  This  was  her  first  fatal  blunder. 
And  the  consciousness  that  she  had  blundered  called  out,  not 
a  just  contempt  for  her  own  government  and  its  spies  who 
had  misled  her,  but  a  frenzy  of  hate  for  England  —  whose 
overthrow  in  a  later  war,  she  now  openly  declared,  had  been 
her  real  goal  all  along.  France  was  to  be  crushed  mainly  to 
leave  England  without  an  ally,  and  to  enable  Germany  to 
launch  her  attack  at  England  from  French  ports,  like  Calais. 
And  in  a  month,  the  German  leaders  boasted,  the  German 
troops  would  be  in  Paris,  with  France  at  their  mercy. 

855.  England  had  no  army  worth  mention,  and  no. arms  for 
her   eager   volunteers.      But   with   strenuous    effort   she   put 
100,000  partly  equipped  men  into  the  fighting  line  in  France. 
With  this  slight  help,  France  battled  heroically  and  skillfully 
against   overwhelming   odds,   and   finally  when   the  invaders 
were  actually  in  sight  of  the  towers  of  Paris,  Marshal  Joffre 
beat   them  back  in  a  week-long  battle  along  a   two-hundred 
mile  front.     This  Battle  of  the  Marne  ranks  with  Marathon  and 
Tours.      Once   more  Western   freedom   and   civilization   was 
saved  from  a  towering  despotism. 

856.  The   Germans   retreated   hurriedly   well    toward    the 
French  border  and  there  "  dug  themselves  in."     Then  began 
"trench  warfare,"  new  in  history.      For  years,  the  combat 
ants  have  wrestled  grimly  in  unresting  death-grip  on  a  360- 
mile  front  reaching  from  the   North    Sea   to  Switzerland, — 
while    on   the   east,  mainly  in   the   ancient  Polish   districts, 
warfare  on  a  mighty  scale,  but  more  in  the  old  fashion,  has 
raged  with  varying  fortune. 

Meantime  the  conflagration,  started  in  Belgium,  had  set  the 
world  ablaze.  While  her  first  devoted  army  died  gallantly  to 
gain  her  time,  England  reorganized  herself  for  war,  —  built 
and  manned  munition  factories,  poured  forth  her  gold  lavishly 
for  France  and  Russia,  saved  and  suffered  and  toiled  and 
drilled  strenuously  at  home,  and  finally  put  into  the  field  a 
splendid  fighting  force  of  more  than  four  million  men ;  while, 
from  the  first,  her  navy  swept  the  seas,  and  except  for  sub- 


§  857J  THE  NATIONS   CHOOSE  709 

marines,  kept  the  boastful  German  navy  bottled  up  in  harbor 
or  in  the  Baltic.1  Distant  peaceful  commonwealths,  in  Canada 
and  in  Australia,  roused  themselves  to  rescue  England  and 
their  common  civilization.  Japan,  England's  ally  in  the 
Orient,  entered  the  war,  and  seized  Germany's  province  in 
China  (Modern  World,  §  821).  Italy  joined  "the  Allies,"  to 
regain  her  ancient  Trentino  territory,  so  long  held  in  bondage 
by  Austria,  and  do  her  bit  for  the  freedom  of  the  world. 
Roumania  added  herself  to  the  same  side  to  save  herself  from 
absorption  in  the  German  world-empire  and  to  regain  Rou 
manian  lands  held  by  Austria  (Modern  World,  §  830).  Greece 
wished  to  take  like  action,  and  finally  did  so,  after  deposing 
a  king  who  had  been  held  to  German  interests  by  his  Hohen- 
zollern  wife. 

On  the  other  hand,  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  joined  the  "  Cen 
tral  European  Powers,"  so  that  when  Serbia  had  been  overrun, 
Germany  held  a  vast  vassal  realm  of  137  millions  of  people, 
from  Antwerp  to  Bagdad.  This  more  than  made  true  the 
dream  of  a  "  Mittel-Europa  Empire,"  which  had  long  beckoned 
German  expansionists. 

857.  This  terrible  world-war,  especially  on  the  west  front,  was 
waged  in  terrible  ways  new  to  the  world.  Ordinary  cannon 
were  replaced  by  huge  new  guns  belching  forth  poison  gas  and 
high  explosives,  blasting  the  whole  landscape  into  indescribable 
and  lasting  ruin.  Ordinary  defense  works  were  elaborated  into 
many  lines  of  connected  trenches  beneath  the  earth,  protected 
in  part  by  mazy  fences  of  barbed  wire.  To  plow  through 
these  intrenchments,  cavalry  were  replaced  by  monstrous, 
heavily  armored  motor-tanks.  Scouting  was  done,  and  gun  fire 
directed,  by  airships  and  airplanes,  equipped  with  new  appa 
ratus  for  photography  and  for  wireless  telegraphy ;  and  daily 
these  aerial  scouts,  singly  or  in  fleets,  met  in  deadly  combat 
above  the  earth,  —  combat  that  ended  only  when  one  or  the 


1  Now  and  then  a  few  German  cruisers  have  escaped  for  raids  on  the  Eng 
lish  coast,  but  such  raids  have  had  no  significance  in  the  war. 


710  THE   WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  858 

other  went  hurtling  down  in  flames  to  crashing  destruction. 
And  beneath  the  sea,  the  submarines  invented  new  horrors  to 
obscure  all  former  deeds  of  privateers  or  pirates. 

858.  One  phase  of  this  new  warfare  compelled  the  attention  of 
the  world  outside  Europe.  This  was  the  policy  of  Frightfulness 
("  Schrecklichkeit ")  deliberately  adopted  by  the  German  gov 
ernment.  Official  authority  in  Germany  for  this  policy  dates 
from  1900.  In  that  year  a  force  of  German  soldiers  set  out 
to  join  forces  from  other  European  countries  and  from  the 
United  States  in  restoring  order  in  China,  after  the  massacre 
of  Europeans  there  in  the  Boxer  Rebellion.  July  27  the  Kaiser 
bade  his  troops  farewell  at  Bremerhaven  in  a  set  address.  In 
the  course  of  that  brutal  speech  he  commanded  them :  — 

* '  Show  no  mercy  !  Take  no  prisoners  !  As  the  Huns  made  a  name 
for  themselves  which  is  still  mighty  in  tradition,  so  may  you  by  your  deeds 
so  fix  the  name  of  German  in  China  that  no  Chinese  shall  ever  again  dare 
to  look  at  a  German  askance.  .  .  .  Open  the  way  for  Kultur. ' ' l 

Now  this  Hun  policy  was  put  into  effect  in  Western  Europe. 
Never  since  the  ancient  blood-spattered  Assyrian  monarchs 
stood  exultingly  on  pyramids  of  mangled  corpses  had  the 
world  seen  so  huge  a  crime.  Belgium  and  northeastern  France 
were  devastated.  Whole  villages  of  innocent  non-combatants 
were  wiped  out,  —  men,  women,  children,  —  burned  in  their 
houses  or  shot  and  bayoneted  if  they  crept  forth.  All  this 
by  deliberate  order  of  the  "high  command,"  and  not  to  gain 

1  The  troops  reached  China  too  late  to  be  of  use.  American,  Japanese, 
French,  and  Italian  troops  had  already  restored  order.  But  the  Germans 
made  a  number  of  savage  "  punitive  expeditions  "  for  booty  and  rapine.  In 
these  they  indulged  not  merely  in  indiscriminate  murder  of  innocent  non- 
combatants,  but  even  in  many  indescribable  outrages  upon  women.  General 
Chaffee,  the  commander  of  the  United  States  troops,  and  the  senior  officer 
among  the  Western  forces,  called  together  the  commanders  of  the  other  allies, 
and  then  as  their  spokesman  interviewed  Von  Waldersee,  the  German  com 
mander.  Von  Waldersee  declared  haughtily  that  there  would  be  no  change 
in  his  policy.  His  soldiers  "must  have  some  chance  to  indulge  themselves." 
Said  Chaffee  :  "We  have  not  come  to  make  requests,  but  to  tell  you  that 
this  sort  of  thing  must  stop."  It  stopped. 


§  859]  GERMAN   FRIGHTFULNESS  711 

any  military  advantage,  but,  like  the  frightfulness  of  the  old 
Assyrians,  to  terrify  neighboring  peoples  —  Dutch,  Danes, 
Swiss  —  so  that  they  might  not  dare  risk  a  like  fate. 

About  all  this  there  is  absolutely  no  doubt.  Of  course  the 
German  soldiery  became  brutalized,  so  that,  with  or  without 
orders,  they  committed  thousands  of  nameless  outrages  upon 
women  and  Sioux-Indian  mutilations  upon  captives.  In  like 
fashion,  too,  zeppelins  raided  England,  partly  to  destroy  mili 
tary  depots,  but  chiefly  to  drop  bombs  upon  resident  parts  of 
London  and  upon  peaceful  villages.  Stupidly  Germany  thought 
she  could  frighten  Englishmen  by  methods  that  merely  raised 
the  will  of  the  nation. 

So,  too,  the  Germans  deliberately  bombed  hospitals  and  Red 
Cross  trains,  murdering  not  only  wounded  soldiers  but  also 
the  doctors  and  nurses.  And  soon  the  German  submarine 
began  to  torpedo  hospital  ships,  clearly  marked  as  such.  Nor 
is  it  easy  to  find  any  imaginable  crime  against  the  war  customs 
of  all  civilized  nations  that  was  not  committed  and  boasted  of 
by  Germany  within  a  few  months  after  this  war  began.  No 
wonder  that  even  neutral  lands  began  to  know  Germans  no 
longer  by  the  kindly  "  Fritz  "  but  only  by  "  Hun  "  or  "  Boche." 1 

With  German  approval,  and  under  the  eyes  of  German  officers,  the 
Turks  massacred  a  majority  of  the  Armenians,  and  the  Bulgarians  mas 
sacred  in  wholesale  fashion  the  non-combatant  Serbian  population.  A 
word  from  Germany  would  have  stopped  these  needless  and  revolting 
excesses  against  humanity,  which  were  upon  a  scale  even  huger  than 
Germany's  own  crimes  in  the  West,  but  which  were  committed  by  races 
from  whom  we  do  not  expect  "  civilized  "  warfare. 

859.  To  the  United  States,  even  more  than  to  France  or 
England,  the  war  came  as  a  surprise ;  and  for  some  time  its 
purposes  and  its  origin  were  obscured  by  a  skillful  German 
propaganda  in  our  press  and  on  the  platform.  President  Wil- 

1  On  all  this,  see  German  War  Practices,  a  volume  edited  by  Dana  C. 
Munro  and  other  well-known  American  historians,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
American  government.  This  volume  should  be  in  every  high-school  library. 
Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. 


712  THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  859 

son  issued  the  usual  proclamation  of  neutrality,  and  followed 
this  with  unusual  and  solemn  appeals  to  the  American  people 
for  a  real  neutrality  of  feeling.  For  two  years  the  administra 
tion  clung  to  this  policy.  Any  other  course  was  made  difficult 
for  the  President  by  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  Democratic, 
leaders  in  Congress  were  either  pro-German  or  extreme  pacifists. 
Moreover  the  President  seems  to  have  hoped  nobly  that  if  the 
United  States  could  keep  apart  from  the  struggle,  it  might,  at 
the  close,  render  mighty  service  to  the  world  in  a  world-council 
to  establish  lasting  world  peace. 

True,  our  best  informed  men  and  women  saw  at  once  that 
France  and  England  were  waging  our  war,  battling  and  dying 
to  save  our  ideals  of  free  industrial  civilization,  and  of  common 
decency,  from  a  militaristic  despotism.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
young  Americans,  largely  college  men,  made  their  way  to  the 
fighting  line,  as  volunteers  in  the  Canadian  regiments,  in  the 
French  "  Foreign  Legion,"  or  in  the  "  air  service  " ;  and  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  more  among  us  blushed  with  shame  daily 
that  other  and  weaker  peoples  should  struggle  and  suffer  in 
our  cause  while  we  stood  idly  by. 

But  to  other  millions  —  long  a  majority  —  the  dominant 
feeling  was  a  deep  thankfulness  that  our  sons  were  safe  from 
slaughter,  our  homes  free  from  the  horror  of  war.  Nor  was 
this  attitude  of  only  a  few  months  ago  as  strange  or  as  grossly 
selfish  then  as  it  seems  now.  Vast  portions  of  our  people  had 
neither  cared  nor  known  about  the  facts  back  of  the  war :  to 
such,  that  mighty  struggle  between  Wrong  and  Right  was 
merely  "a  bloody  European  squabble."  And  even  the  better 
informed  of  our  people  found  it  not  altogether  easy  to  break 
with  our  century-long  tradition  of  a  happy  aloofness  from  all 
Old-World  quarrels. 

Such  indifference  or  apathy,  however,  needed  a  moral  force 
to  give  it  positive  strength.  And  this  moral  force  for  neu 
trality  was  not  wholly  lacking.  Many  ardent  workers,  and 
some  leaders,  in  all  the  great  reform  movements  believed  that 
in  any  war  the  attention  of  the  nation  must  be  diverted  from 


§  859]  AMERICA  TRIES  NEUTRALITY  713 

the  pressing  need  of  progress  at  home.  *  To  them  the  first 
American  gun  would  sound  the  knell,  for  their  day,  of  all  the 
reforms  that  they  had  long  battled  for.  Still  breathless  from 
their  lifelong  wrestlings  with  Vested  Wrongs,  they  failed  to 
see  that  German  militarism  and  despotism  had  suddenly 
towered  into  the  one  supreme  peril  to  American  life.  And 
so  many  noble  men,  and  some  honored  names,  cast  their  weight 
for  neutrality.  And  then,  cheek  by  jowl  with  this  misled  but 
honorable  idealism,  there  flaunted  itself  a  coarse  pro-German 
sentiment  wholly  un-American.  Sons  and  grandsons  of  men 
who  had  fled  from  Germany  to  escape  despotism  were  heard 
now  as  apologists  for  the  most  dangerous  despotism  and  the 
most  barbarous  war  methods  the  modern  world  had  ever  seen. 
Strangely  enough,  too,  every  one  of  these  ardent  admirers  of 
military  preparedness  in  Germany  pleaded  against  any  pre 
paredness  by  the  United  States.  Organized  and  obedient 
to  the  word  of  command,  this  element  made  many  weak  poli 
ticians  truckle  to  the  fear  of  "  the  German  vote.73 

These  forces  for  neutrality  were  strengthened  by  one  other 
selfish  motive.  The  country  had  begun  to  feel  a  vast  business 
prosperity.  Some  forms  of  business  were  demoralized  for  a 
time ;  but  soon  the  European  belligerents  were  all  clamoring 
to  buy  all  our  spare  products  at  our  own  prices  —  munitions 
of  war,  food,  clothing,  raw  materials.  To  be  sure,  the  English 
navy  soon  shut  out  Germany  from  direct  trade,  though  she 
long  continued  an  eager  customer,  indirectly,  through  Holland 
and  Denmark;  but  in  any  case  the  Allies  called  ceaselessly 
for  more  than  we  could  produce.  Non-employment  vanished  ; 
wages  rose  by  bounds ;  new  fortunes  piled  up  as  by  Aladdin's 
magic.  A  busy  people,  growing  richer  and  busier  day  by  day, 
ill-informed  about  the  real  causes  of  the  war,  needed  some 
mighty  incentive  to  turn  it  from  the  easy  peaceful  road  of 
prosperous  industry  into  the  stern  rugged  paths  of  self-denial 
and  war.  A  little  wisdom,  and  Germany  might  readily  have 
held  us  bound  to  neutrality  in  acts  at  least,  if  not  always  in 
feeling. 


714  THE   WAR  FOR   DEMOCRACY  [§  8GO 

860.  But  more  and  more  Germany  made  neutrality  impossible 
for  us.     From  the  first  the  German  government  actively  stirred 
up  bad  feeling  toward  us  among  its  own  people  because  our 
people  used  the  usual  and  legal  rights  of  citizens  of  a  neutral 
power  to  sell  munitions  of  war  to  the  belligerents.     Germany 
had  securely  supplied  herself  in  advance,  and  England's  navy 
shut  her  out  from  the  trade  in  any  case.     And  so  she  tried, 
first  by  cajolery  and  then  by  threats,  to  keep  us  from  selling 
to  her  enemies  —  which  would  have  left  them  at  her  mercy, 
taken  by  surprise  and  unprepared  as  they  were. 

Our  legal  right  to  sell  munitions  she  could  not  question 
seriously.  Only  two  years  before,  she  herself  had  been  selling 
just  such  munitions  freely  to  the  warring  Balkan  nations. 
She  demanded  of  us  not  that  we  comply  with  international 
law,  but  that  we  change  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  insure  her 
victory  —  in  such  a  way  as  would  really  have  made  us  her 
ally.  For  our  government  to  have  yielded  to  her  demands, 
and  forbidden  trade  in  munitions  during  the  war,  would  have 
been  not  neutrality,  but  a  plain  breach  of  neutrality  —  and  a 
direct  and  deadly  act  of  war  against  the  Allies. 

Our  government  firmly  refused  to  notice  these  arrogant 
demands.  And,  says  an  authorized  statement  (in  How  the  War 
Came  to  America)  :  — 

"Upon  the  moral  issue  involved  the  stand  taken  by  the  United  States 
was  consistent  with  its  traditional  policy  and  with  obvious  common  sense. 
For  if,  with  all  other  neutrals,  we  refused  to  sell  munitions  to  belliger 
ents,  we  could  never  in  time  of  a  war  of  our  own  obtain  munitions  from 
neutrals,  and  the  nation  which  had  accumulated  the  largest  reserves  of 
war  supplies  in  time  of  peace  would  be  assured  of  victory.  The  militarist 
state  that  invested  its  money  in  arsenals  would  be  at  a  fatal  advantage 
over  the  free  people  who  invested  their  wealth  in  schools.  To  write  into 
international  law  that  neutrals  should  not  trade  in  munitions  would  be 
to  hand  over  the  world  to  the  rule  of  the  nation  with  the  largest  arma 
ment  factories.  Such  a  policy  the  United  States  of  America  could  not 
accept. ' ' 

861.  Soon   a  specific  controversy  arose  out  of  the  German 
barbarous  submarine  policy.     Driven  from  the  seas  in  all  other 


§  861]  THE   LUSITANIA  715 

ways,  and  held  in  the  grip  of  a  crushing  blockade  on  all  fronts 
the  Germans  used  the  submarine  with  bravery,  skill,  and  dash 
to  cripple  the  commerce  of  the  Allies.  This  was  their  right; 
and  they  showed  at  once  that  the  submarine,  acting  in  full 
accord  with  the  ways  of  civilized  nations  in  war,  was  a  more 
terrible  weapon  than  the  world  had  ever  seen  upon  the  sea. 

But  the  German  submarines,  not  content  with  this,  acted  in 
defiance  of  all  civilized  usage.  In  the  American  Civil  War, 
when  Confederate  privateers  like  the  Alabama  captured  and 
burned  hundreds  of  commercial  vessels  belonging  to  the  North, 
no  prisoner  and  no  non-combatant  was  ever  intentionally  in 
jured  in  his  person.  Such  has  long  been  the  general  practice 
among  civilized  nations.  In  the  Spanish-American  War, 
Admiral  Sampson,  appearing  unexpectedly  (May  12,  1898) 
before  San  Juan,  forebore  his  admirable  chance  to  capture  the 
city  because,  as  his  report  said,  a  bombardment  "  would  have 
required  due  notice  "  for  the  removal  of  women,  children,  and 
the  sick;  and  when  he  did  bombard  the  forts,  he  especially 
ordered  the  captains  to  avoid  hitting  the  Spanish  military 
hospital. 

But  Germany,  in  her  submarine  warfare,  soon  began  to  sink 
not  only  the  peaceful  merchant  ships  of  France  and  England,  with 
women  and  children,  but  to  destroy  in  the  same  ruthless  way 
ships  and  lives  of  neutral  nations.  She  proclaimed  a  broad 
"  zone  "  on  the  sea,  including  all  approaches  to  the  countries 
with  which  she  was  at  war,  announcing  that  she  would  sink 
all  ships  there,  even  to  the  destruction  of  their  crews  and 
passengers.  This  threat  was.  too  horrible  for  the  world  to 
take  it  as  seriously  meant ;  but  it  was  quickly  followed  to  our 
passionate  amazement  by  the  sinking  of  the  great  English 
"  liner,"  the  Lusitania  (May  7,  1915),  without  summons  and 
without  any  attempt  to  save  life.  Of  the  thousand  and  more 
of  non-combatants  there  ruthlessly  murdered,  114  were  Ameri 
cans,  many  women  and  children  among  them,  —  all  of  them 
safe  from  attack  by  every  principle  of  civilized  warfare. 

This  outrage  called  out  in  much  of  America  a  wild  cry  for 


716  THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  861 

war ;  but  large  parts  of  the  country,  remote  from  the  sea 
board,  were  still  indifferent  to  a  "  European  struggle,"  and 
there  were  not  lacking  some  shameless  apologists  for  even  this 
massacre.  President  Wilson,  zealous  to  preserve  peace,  used 
every  resource  of  diplomacy  to  induce  Germany  to  give  up  its 
horrible  submarine  policy.  At  the  same  time  he  distinctly 
pointed  out,  in  note  after  note,  that  a  continuance  in  that 
policy  would  force  America  to  fight. 

The  "First  Lusitania  Note"  (after  pointing  out  that  the  use  of  sub 
marines  against  merchant  ships  must  necessarily  endanger  the  lives  of 
passengers  and  of  neutrals,  and  after  urging  Germany  to  give  up  a 
practice  so  contrary  to  civilized  warfare  and  to  the  law  of  nations) 
closed  :  — 

"  The  Imperial  German  Government  will  not  expect  the  government 
of  the  United  States  to  omit  any  word  or  any  act  necessary  to  the  per 
formance  of  its  sacred  duty  of  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  United  States 
and  its  citizens,  and  of  safeguarding  their  free  exercise  "  (June  13, 
1915). 

The  "  Third  Lusitania  Note  "  (July  21)  refused  to  consider  the  tissue  of 
evasions  put  forward  by  Germany  as  in  any  way  "relevant  "  to  a  discus 
sion  of  "  the  grave  and  unjustifiable  violations  of  the  rights  of  American 
citizens,"  and  uttered  solemn  warning,  that  if  these  "illegal  and  in 
human  "  acts  were  persisted  in,  "  they  would  constitute  an  unpardonable 
offense  "... 

"Repetition  by  the  commanders  of  German  naval  vessels  of  acts  in  con 
travention  of  these  rights  must  be  regarded  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  ...  as  deliberately  unfriendly." 

These  well-meant  efforts  of  the  President  were  answered  by 
the  German  government  with  quibbles,  cynical  falsehoods,  and 
contemptuous  neglect.  Other  merchant  vessels  were  sunk, 
and  finally  (March,  1916)  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex,  a  passen 
ger  ship,  again  involved  the  murder  of  American  citizens. 
President  Wilson's  note  to  Germany  took  a  still  sterner  tone 
and  specifically  declared  that  one  more  such  act  would  cause 
him  to  break  off  all  diplomatic  relations.  Germany  now 
seemed  to  give  way.  She  promised,  though  grudgingly  and 
with  loopholes  for  future  use,  that  she  would  sink  no  more 
passenger  or  commercial  ships  —  unless  they  should  attempt 


§  8G2J  WILSON'S  REELECTION  717 

to  escape  capture  —  without  providing  for  the  safety  of  non- 
combatants  (May  4). 

President  Wilson  seemed  to  have  won  a  victory  for  civili 
zation.  The  fact  proved  to  be,  as  we  know  now,  that  just 
then  Germany  had  lost  nearly  all  her  submarines  and  was 
forced  for  a  time  to  give  up  their  use — while  she  secretly 
hurried  the  building  of  new  and  larger  fleets  of  such  monsters. 
Even  for  the  moment  the  promise  was  not  well  kept.  Said 
President  Wilson  afterward,  — "  The  precautions  [taken  to 
save  life,  when  an  occasional  merchant  ship  was  sunk]  were 
meager  and  haphazard  enough,  as  was  proved  in  distressing 
instance  after  instance  in  the  progress  of  the  cruel  and  un 
manly  business,  but  a  certain  degree  of  restraint  was  observed" 
(  War  Message,  April  2,  1917). 

862.  Meanwhile  the  presidential  election  of  1916  came  on. 
Mr.  Wilson  was  of  course  renominated  without  opposition  by 
the  Democrats.  He  drew  great  strength  in  the  West  from  the 
fact  that  he  had  "  kept  us  out  of  war  "  ;  but  to  many  observers 
this  advantage  seemed  balanced  by  the  other  fact  that  he  had 
been  firm  enough  in  defending  American  rights  with  voice  and 
pen  to  draw  upon  him  the  hatred  of  large  and  organized  pro- 
German  elements.  Republican  cartoons  commonly  depicted 
him  bent  over  a  typewriter  and  wearing  a  white  feather ;  while 
at  the  same  time  every  voter  with  a  German  name  received  by 
mail  circular  after  circular  from  "  German-American  "  societies 
urging  opposition  to  him  as  an  "  enemy  to  Germany."  The 
woman  vote,  in  the  West,  went  to  him  in  large  measure. 
Labor  unions  and  the  railway  men  were  largely  for  him ;  but 
"  business,"  so  far  as  it  was  heard  from,  was  mainly  against 
him. 

Moreover,  the  Republican  party  seemed  once  more  united. 
Mr.  Roosevelt,  having  failed  to  win  the  nomination,  declined  to 
run  again  as  a  Progressive,  and  urged  his  old  followers  to  sup 
port  the  regular  Republican  nominee,  Charles  Evans  Hughes, 
who  had  resigned  from  the  Supreme  Court  to  accept  the 
nomination. 


718  THE   WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  863 

Mr.  Hughes  had  an  honorable  record.  He  had  proved  him 
self  a  high-minded  gentleman,  and  he  had  shown  much  sym 
pathy  with  progressive  movements.  He  and  Mr.  Wilson,  it 
was  often  said,  were  much  the  same  type  of  man.  But  Mr. 
Wilson  dominated  the  leaders  of  his  party,  and  Mr.  Hughes 
was  dominated  by  the  leaders  of  his  party.  Neither  his  plat 
form  nor  his  campaign  speeches  took  positive  stand  regarding 
the  world- war 1  or  any  progressive  movement  at  home.  In 
stead  he  relied  upon  calls  for  high  protective  tariffs  and  upon 
negative  criticism  of  Mr.  Wilson's  policies.  Nothing  construc 
tive  was  promised.  The  Republican  "  Old  Guard  "  were  once 
more  fully  in  control,  and,  with  the  disappearance  of  the  Pro 
gressive  party,  they  were  blindly  confident. 

This  confidence  led  them  to  show  their  hand  freely.  Pro 
gressive  leaders  within  the  party,  like  Hiram  Johnson  of 
California,  were  openly  slighted,  and  thousands  of  Progressive 
Republicans  stayed  away  from  the  polls  in  disgust.  In  July 
Mr.  Hughes  would  probably  have  been  elected  overwhelmingly. 
In  November  the  victory  went  to  Mr.  Wilson. 

863.  No  sooner  had  the  dust  of  this  political  campaign 
cleared  away  than  the  American  people  began  to  find  indis 
putable  proofs  of  new  treacheries  and  new  attacks  upon  our 
people  by  Germany,  even  within  our  own  borders.  The  official 
representatives  of  Germany  in  the  United  States,  protected  by 
their  diplomatic  position  (and  bound  by  every  sort  of  inter 
national  law  and  common  decency  not  to  interfere  in  any  man 
ner  with  our  domestic  affairs),  had  placed  their  hirelings  as 
spies  and  plotters  throughout  our  land.  They  had  used  Ger 
man  money,  with  the  approval  of  the  German  government,  to 
bribe  our  officials  and  even  to  "influence'7  our  Congress 
They  had  paid  public  speakers  to '  foment  distrust  and  hatred 
toward  the  Allies.  They  had  hired  agitators  to  stir  up  strikes 
and  riots  in  order  to  paralyze  our  industries.  They  incited  to 
insurrection  in  San  Domingo,  Haiti,  and  Cuba,  so  as  to  dis- 

1  Mr.  Koosevelt  was  unreservedly  for  war  with  Germany ;  but  he  was 
allowed  a  very  minor  and  carefully  guarded  part  in  the  campaign. 


863] 


WILSON'S  REELECTION 


719 


.' t, 

V-~~  J  «    i 3 

'       j 


720  THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  864 

turb  our  peace.  They  paid  wretches  to  blow  up  our  railway 
bridges,  our  ships,  our  munition  plants,  with  the  loss  of  millions 
of  dollars  of  property  and  with  the  murder  of  hundreds  of 
peaceful  American  workers.  Each  week  brought  fresh  proof 
of  such  outrage  —  more  and  more  frequently,  formal  proof  in 
the  courts.  The  governments  of  the  "  Central  Powers  "  paid 
no  attention  to  our  complaints,  or  to  the  evidence  we  placed 
before  them  regarding  these  crimes ;  and  so  finally  President 
Wilson  dismissed  the  Austrian  ambassador  and  various  guilty 
officers  connected  with  the  German  embassy.1 

864.  All  this  turned  our  attention  more  and  more  to  the 
hostility  to  our  country  plainly  avowed  for  years  by  German 
leaders.  Said  the  Kaiser  himself  to  our  ambassador  (October 
22, 1915)  at  a  time  when  our  government  was  showing  extreme 
gentleness  in  calling  Germany  to  account  for  her  murder  of 
peaceful  American  citizens  on  the  high  seas,  —  "  America  had 
better  look  out.  ...  /  shall  stand  no  nonsense  from  America 
after  this  war"  Other  representative  Germans  threatened  more 
specifically  that  when  England  had  been  conquered,  Germany, 
unable  to  indemnify  herself  in  exhausted  Europe  for  her 
terrible  expenses,  would  take  that  indemnity  from  the  rich 
and  unwarlike  United  States.  Our  writers  began  to  call  our 
attention  to  the  fact  that  this  plan  had  been  cynically  avowed 
in  Germany  for  years  before  the  war  began  (Conquest  and 
Kultur,  102-112).  Slowly  we  opened  our  eyes  to  the  plain 
fact  that  just  as  the  conquest  of  France  had  been  intended 
mainly  as  a  step  to  the  conquest  of  England,  so  now  the  con 
quest  of  England  was  to  be  a  step  to  the  subjugation  of 
America.  It  came  home  to  us  that  our  fancied  security  — 
unprepared  for  war  as  we  were  —  was  due  only  to  the  pro 
tecting  shield  of  England's  fleet.  If  Germany  came  out  victor 
from  the  European  struggle,  we  must  give  up  forever  our  un- 
militaristic  life,  and  turn  our  country  permanently  into  a  huge 
camp,  on  a  European  model,  as  our  only  chance  for  safety  from 

1  For  proven  guilt,  see  the  notes  to  President  Wilson's  Flag  Day  Address, 
as  published  hy  the  Committee  of  Public  Information,  Washington,  D.  C. 


865] 


GERMAN  PERFIDY 


721 


invasion  and  rapine  ;  and  there  was  much  doubt  whether  time 
would  be  given  us  to  form  such  a  camp.  To  live  in  peace, 
as  we  wished  to  live,  we  must  help  crush  the  militaristic  power 
that  hated  and  despised  and  attacked  peace.  German  despotism 
and  peace  for  free  peoples  could  not  exist  in  the  same  world.  We 
had  long  hoped  to  keep  the  peace  by  being  peaceful.  But 
now  peace  had  gone.  We  could  win  peace  back  only  by  fight 
ing  for  it. 

865.  President  Wilson  strove  still  to  avoid  war.  Even  the 
complete  breaking  off  of  diplomatic  relations,  should  that 
come,  he  pointed  out, 
would  not  necessarily 
mean  war.  At  the  same 
time  he  had  begun  to 
speak  solemn  warning  to 
our  own  people  that  we 
could  not  keep  out  of 
the  struggle,  or  out  of 
some  like  struggle,  unless 
peace  could  be  secured 
soon  and  upon  a  just 
basis.  December  22,  he 
sent  to  all  the  warring 
governments  a  note  ask 
ing  them  to  state  their 
aims.  The  Allies  frankly 
demanded  "  restoration 
and  reparation  "  with  an 
adjustment  of  disputed 
territories  according  to 
the  will  of  the  inhabit 
ants.  Germany  replied 
evasively,  making  it  plain 
that  her  own  suggestion 
at  this  same  time  for  a  peace  conference  was  merely  spar 
ring  for  time. 


THE  CAPITOL  on  the  night  of  President 
Wilson's  second  inaugural.  Photo,  by 
Harris  and  Ewing,  Washington,  D.  C. 


722  THE   WAR  FOR   DEMOCRACY  [§  860 

Then  January  22,  1917,  the  President  read  to  Congress  a 
notable  address  proposing  a  League  of  Nations  to  enforce 
Peace,  and  outlining  the  kind  of  peace  which,  he  thought,  the 
United  States  would  join  in  guaranteeing,  —  not  a  Caesar's 
peace,  not  a  peace  of  despotic  and  irresponsible  governments, 
but  a  peace  made  by  free  peoples  (among  whom  the  small 
nations  should  have  their  full  and  equal  voice)  and  "  made 
secure  by  the  organized  major  force  of  mankind."  l 

866.  Germany's  new  submarines  were  almost  ready;  and 
she  was  about  to  resume  her  barbarous  warfare  upon  neutrals. 
She  expected  this  to  join  the  United  States  to  her  foes ;  but 
she  thought  us  impotent  in  war,  and  believed  she  could  keep 
us  busied  at  home.  To  this  last  end,  through  her  ambassador  at 
Washington  —  while  he  was  still  enjoying  our  hospitality  — 
she  had  secretly  been  trying,  as  we  learned  a  little  later,  to 
get  Mexico  and  Japan  to  join  in  an  attack  upon  us,  promising 
them  aid  and  huge  portions  of  our  western  territory. 

January  31,  the  German  government  announced  that  it  was 
about  to  renew  its  "  unrestricted  "  submarine  policy,  explain 
ing  to  'its  own  people  with  moral  callousness,  why  it  had  for 
a  time  appeared  to  yield  to  American  pressure.  President 
Wilson  at  once  dismissed  the  German  ambassador,  according 
to  his  promise  of  the  preceding  March  (§  861),  recalled  our 
ambassador,  Gerard,  from  Berlin,  and  appeared  before  Congress 
to  announce,  in  a  solemn  address,  the  complete  severance  of 
diplomatic  relations  —  expressing,  however,  a  faint  hope  that 
the  German  government  might  still  refrain  from  compelling 
us,  by  some  "  overt  act,"  to  repel  force  by  force.  By  March  1, 
Germany  had  begun  again  actually  to  sink  passenger  ships 
and  murder  more  Americans  ;  and  on  March  3,  the  President 
asked  Congress  to  approve  his  plan  of  placing  armed  guards 
from  the  Nation's  forces  on  our  merchant  ships.  More  than 


1  This  great  address  should  be  read  by  all  students.  It  can  be  found  in 
many  forms,  —  at  present  perhaps  most  conveniently  in  How  the  War  Came 
to  America,  Appendix  (Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  D.  C.,  for 
free  distribution). 


§  868]  AND  FOR  PEACE  723 

500  of  the  531  members  of  the  two  Houses  were  eager  to  vote 
their  approval ;  but  the  filibustering  minority  prevented  a  vote 
in  the  Senate  until  the  expiration  of  the  session  on  the  next  day. 

867.  March  12,  in  exercise  of  his  constitutional  powers,  the 
President  did  put  guards  on  our  merchant  vessels.     Germany 
announced  that  such  guards  if  captured  would  be  treated  as 
pirates.    Meantime,  many  more  Americans  had  been  murdered 

•at  sea  by  the  sinking  of  neutral  vessels.1  The  temper  of  the 
nation  was  changing  swiftly.  Apathy  vanished.  Direct  and 
open  opposition  to  war  there  still  was  from  extreme  pacifists 
and  from  pro-Germans,  including  the  organization  of  the 
Socialist  party  (§  819) :  but  the  great  majority  of  the  Nation 
roused  itself  to  defend  the  rights  of  mankind  against  a  dan 
gerous  government  running  amuck,  and  turned  its  eyes  confi 
dently  to  the  President  for  a  signal.  And  April  2  President 
Wilson  appeared  before  the  new  Congress,  met  in  special 
session,  to  ask  it  to  declare  that  we  were  now  at  war  with 
Germany.  April  6,  by  overwhelming  votes,  that  declaration 
was  adopted. 

868.  America  went  to  war  not   to   avenge   slights   to   its 
"  honor,"  or  merely  to  protect  the  property  of  its  citizens,  or 
even  merely  to  protect  their  lives  at  sea.     America  went  to 
war  not  merely  in  self-defense.     We  do  war  for  this,  but  more 
in  defense  of  free  government,  in  defense  of  civilization,  in  defense 
of  humanity.     Said  President  Wilson  in  his  War  Message  :  — 

"  The  present  German  submarine  warfare  against  commerce  is  a  war 
against  all  mankind.  .  .  .  The  challenge  is  to  all.  ...  Neutrality  is 

1  Besides  the  eight  American  vessels  sunk  before  March,  1916,  eight  had 
been  sunk  in  the  one  month  from  February  3  to  March  2,  1917.  During  the 
two  months,  February  and  March,  105  Norwegian  vessels  were  sunk,  with  the 
loss  of  328  lives.  By  April  3, 1917,  according  to  figures  compiled  by  the  United 
States  government,  686  neutral  vessels  had  been  sunk  by  Germany  icithout 
counting  American  ships.  When  we  turn  to  the  still  more  important  question 
of  lives,  we  count  up  226  American  citizens  slain  by  the  action  of  German 
submarines  before  April,  1917.  For  details,  see  The  War  Message  and  the 
Facts  behind  It.  Published  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Information,  Wash 
ington,  D..C. 


724  THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  869 

no  longer  feasible  or  desirable,  when  the  peace  of  the  world  is  involved, 
and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  when  the  menace  to  that  peace  and 
freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of  autocratic  governments  backed  by  organ 
ized  force  which  is  controlled  wholly  by  their  will,  not  the  will  of  their 
people.  ...  We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  ...  A  stead 
fast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  maintained  except  by  a  partnership 
of  democratic  nations.  No  autocratic  government  could  be  trusted  to 
keep  faith  within  it.  Only  free  peoples  .  .  .  can  prefer  the  interests  of 
mankind  to  any  narrow  interests  of  their  own.  .  .  .  V(, 

"  We  are  now  about  to  accept  the  gage  of  battle  with  the  natural  foe 
to  liberty.  .  .  .  We  are  glad  ...  to  fight  for  the  ultimate  peace  of  the 
world  and  for  the  liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German  people  included.  .  .  . 

"The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy.  .  .  .  We  have  no 
selfish  ends.  We  desire  no  conquests,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indem 
nities  for  ourselves,  no  material  compensation  for  the  sacrifices  we  shall 
freely  make. 

"It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful  country  into  war, 
into  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civilization  itself  seem 
ing  to  be  in  the  balance.  But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace  ; 
and  we  shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always  carried  nearest 
our  hearts  —  for  democracy,  for  the  right  of  those  who  submit  to  author 
ity  to  have  a  voice  in  their  own  governments,  for  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  small  nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of 
free  peoples  as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations.  .  .  . 

"To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  fortunes,  every 
thing  that  we  are  and  everything  that  we  have,  with  the  pride  of  those 
who  know  that  the  day  has  come  when  America  is  privileged  to  spend 
her  blood  and  her  might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her  birth  and  hap 
piness  and  for  the  peace  which  she  has  treasured.  God  helping  her,  she 
can  do  no  other." 

869.  Cuba  at  once  followed  the  example  of  the  United 
States  in  declaring  war  against  Germany,  and  most  of  the 
countries  of  South  and  Central  America  either  took  the  same 
action  within  a  few  months  or  at  least  broke  off  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  Central  European  Powers.1 

1  A  characteristic  act  of  German  perfidy  toward  Argentine  is  worth  noting 
for  the  sidelight  it  throws  upon  the  conduct  of  German  agents  in  the  United 
States  before  we  entered  the  war. 

Argentine  was  neutral,  and  its  government  indeed  was  rather  pro-German  ; 
but  the  people  were  growing  restive  because  of  the  repeated  sinking  of  Argen- 


§870]  THE   RUSSIAN  COLLAPSE  725 

This  lining  up  of  the  American  nations  had  mighty  moral 
value,  and  no  small  bearing  upon  the  final  outcome  of  the  war, 
first,  in  the  matter  of  supplies ;  and  finally,  in  direct  effect  upon 
military  operations. 

870.  Those  operations  continued  through  1917  much  as  before. 
On  the  West  front,  France  and  England  slowly  forced  back 
the  Germans,  and  showed  at  last  a  definite  superiority  in  men, 
fighting  tone,  and  supplies.  In  Asia,  too,  the  small  English 
armies  won  notable  victories,  capturing  Bagdad  and  the  Tigris 
valley,  and  freeing  Jerusalem  and  the  Holy  Land  from  Turk 
ish  rule. 

But  in  Eastern  Europe,  Germany  worked  her  will.  The 
autocratic  Russian  government,  fearing  for  autocracy  itself, 
had  for  many  months  been  basely  betraying  the  brave  but 
unsupplied  Russian  armies  in  the  field.  At  last,  early  in  1917, 
the  Russian  people  cast  out  their  treacherous  government  and 
tried  to  set  up  a  republic.  For  a  while,  under  the  spirited 
dictatorship  of  Kerensky,  Russia  bade  fair  to  be,  more  than 
before,  a  decisive  factor  in  the  war.  But  control  slipped 
swiftly  to  fantastic  enthusiasts,  who  disbanded  the  Russian 
armies,  and  then,  lamblike,  argued  for  a  just  peace.  Deserted 
Roumania  of  course  was  forced  to  accept  a  German  armistice. 

Freed  from  danger  in  the  East,  Germany  then  hurled  back 
in  rout  the  great  Italian  advance  into  Austria,  and  was  even 
able,  just  at  the  close  of  the  year,  to  check  the  hoped-for  ad 
vance  of  the  Allies  on  the  West.  America,  it  was  plain,  had 
entered  the  war  none  too  soon. 


tine  ships  by  German  submarines.  Finally  the  German  ambassador  to  that 
country  sent  a  secret  dispatch  to  his  government,  advising  it  earnestly  not  to 
give  up  its  practice,  but  thereafter  when  it  sank  an  Argentine  vessel  to  make 
sure  that  no  trace  survived  of  ship  or  crew  ("  spurlos  versenkt")-  This 
document  was  secured  by  an  American  secret  agent,  and  the  Argentine  gov 
ernment  dismissed  the  Ambassador.  The  German  government  has  never 
shown  regret  for  its  representative's  vile  suggestion  of  wholesale  murder  of 
citizens  of  a  power  to  which  he  was  daily  professing  friendship  and  whose 
guest  he  was  — though  there  has  been  some  criticism  of  his  clumsiness  in 
allowing  the  act  to  be  discovered. 


726  THE   WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  871 

On  the  other  hand,  the  submarines,  with  which  Germany 
had  boasted  in  January  that  she  would  starve  England  to 
abject  submission  before  June,  were  apparently  eliminated 
as  a  decisive  factor  in  the  war,  annoying  though  they  continued 
to  be. 

871.  The  United  States  formed  no  "alliance"  by  treaty 
with  any  of  the  Allies  but  it  frankly  recognized  that  they  and 
we  were  co-workers  in  the  war,  and  that  it  was  our  part  to  give 
them  every  possible  aid.  They  looked  to  us  at  first  for  money, 
for  raw  materials,  and  especially  for  food. 

Money  we  began  at  once  to  furnish  freely  from  our  abun 
dance.  Within  a  few  months  the  special  session  of  Congress 
appropriated  the  unparalleled  sum  of  twenty-two  billions  for  the 
next  year.  More  than  five  billions  of  this  was  raised  promptly 
by  the  sale  of  Liberty  Bonds,  mostly  in  small  denominations, 
down  to  $50,  and  largely  to  people  of  small  means.  One 
person  out  of  about  every  ten  in  the  United  States  (children 
included)  became  a  bond  holder  by  so  loaning  to  the  govern 
ment.  At  the  same  time  a  War  Revenue  bill  provided  for 
direct  taxes  to  raise  some  two  and  a  half  billions  a  year,  half 
of  that  to  come  from  a  new  graduated  income  tax,  bearing 
heavily  upon  the  rich,  and  from  "  excess  war  profits."  And 
some  four  billions  of  money  was  loaned  at  once  by  our  gov 
ernment  to  France,  England,  Italy,  and  Russia. 

Ammunition  and  arms  the  western  Allies  now  had,  and 
factories  of  their  own  to  manufacture  more.  But  England 
needed  our  cotton  and  copper,  and  France  and  Italy  could  not 
fight  long  without  our  coal  and  iron  as  well.  These  things  we 
strove  to  send.  But  all  these  lands,  stripped  of  their  own 
farm  workers,  needed  American  food ;  and  our  poor  harvest 
had  left  us  no  surplus  above  our  own  ordinary  consumption. 
To  meet  this  alarming  condition,  Congress  conferred  on 
President  Wilson  extraordinary  powers  over  the  Nation's  re 
sources  of  all  kinds.  The  President  then  created  a  Food 
Commission,  headed  by  Herbert  C.  Hoover,  who  for  three  years 
had  proved  his  signal  administrative  ability  and  his  devotion 


§  872]  AMERICA'S   PART  727 

to  humanity  as  head  of  the  American  Relief  Commission  in 
starving  Belgium.1 

This  Food  Commission,  by  spreading  information  broadcast 
and  by  skillful  appeals  kept  everywhere  before  the  eye, 
induced  the  American  people  voluntarily  to  limit  its  con 
sumption  and  especially  to  "  save  the  waste."  Wheatless  and 
meatless  days  each  week,  and  a  rigid  limitation  on  the  amount 
of  sugar  permitted  any  locality,  created  a  huge  surplus  of  the 
three  most  essential  foods  for  the  armies  fighting  our  battles 
in  Europe.  At  the  same  time,  to  prevent  this  European 
demand  from  raising  prices  exorbitantly,  the  Commissioners 
virtually  fixed  fair  prices  and  regulated  profits. 

To  carry  food  and  other  supplies  to  Europe  a  new  Shipping 
Board  began  to  build  ships  on  an  unprecedented  scale,  so  as 
to  counteract  the  ravages  of  the  submarine.  To  increase 
transportation  facilities  at  home,  the  President  finally  seized 
the  railroads  and  began  to  operate  them  as  one  system,  to  save 
the  waste  of  many  diverse  systems.  The  price  of  coal,  too, 
was  fixed  by  the  government.  All  this  new  work,  taken 
over  by  the  government,  called  for  many  men  of  absolute 
integrity  and  high  ability ;  and  at  the  President's  invitation, 
large  numbers  of  the  nation's  most  noted  captains  of  industry 
and  most  skillful  scientists  gave  up  their  own  work  to  serve 
upon  national  "  Boards  "  and  "  Commissions  "  of  many  sorts^ 
all  without  pay. 

872.  But  the  United  States  of  course  had  to  give  not  only 
her  wealth  but  her  blood.  Our  navy  at  once  became  useful  in 
guarding  transportation  and  in  hunting  down  submarines. 
More  than  half  a  billion  dollars  was  appropriated  for  building 
an  immense  fleet  of  air  craft,  by  a  new  Aviation  Board,  where 
with  "to  blind  the  German  gdant",  and  the  new  aviation 
schools  were  thronged  with  applicants  for  the  service. 

For  actual   fighting  on   land  we  were  even   more  unready 


1  When  we  entered  the  war,  Mr.  Hoover,  and  liis  American  associates  in 
the  Belgian  relief  work,  were  obliged  to  return  to  the  United  States. 


728  THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§  873 

than  was  England  three  years  before.  Here,  too,  in  1917 
great  strides  were  taken,  though  with  some  inevitable  confu 
sion  and  delay.  The  skeleton  army,  like  the  skeleton  navy, 
was  recruited  swiftly  by  volunteer  enlistment  to  the  utmost 
limit  possible  without  losing  all  character  as  a  trained  organ 
ization.  And  by  a  newly  created  and  vast  "  draft  machinery," 
ten  million  young  men  had  been  listed  and  classified  upon 
the  principles  of  "  universal  liability "  and  "  selective  con 
scription."  Before  the  end  of  the  year  half  a  million  of  them 
were  training  in  newly  built  camps,  largely  under  officers  who 
themselves  had  previously  been  trained  in  new  officers'  camps. 
Still  more  to  the  point,  by  January,  1918,  some  three  hundred 
thousand  American  soldiers  had  been  safely  transported  to 
France  and  there  just  back  of  the  firing  line  were  receiving 
their  final  training  for  the  new  warfare.  Small  bodies  had 
even  entered  the  trenches,  and  a  few  gallant  youths  had  laid 
down  their  lives. 

873.  Splendid  was  the  awakening  of  America,  following 
quickly  on  the  President's  call.  True,  some  misled  pacifists 
and  the  positive  pro-German  forces  still  did  their  utmost  to 
give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  Kaiser.  Patriotic  pacifists, 
however,  like  Mr.  Bryan,  recognized  that  to  oppose  our  enter 
ing  the  war  was  a  matter  of  judgment,  but  that  now  to  hinder 
the  success  of  America  in  the  war  was  treason.  Mr.  Bryan 
had  resigned  from  the  Cabinet,  in  June  of  1915,  as  a  protest 
against  the  President's  firmness  in  pressing  the  Lusitania 
matter :  but  now  he  promptly  declared,  "  The  quickest  road  to 
peace  is  through  the  war  to  victory  "  ;  and  he  telegraphed  the 
President  an  offer  of  his  services  in  any  capacity.  Henry 
Ford,  who  had  led  a  shipload  of  peace  enthusiasts  to  Europe 
the  year  before,  now  placed  his  great  automobile  factories 
absolutely  at  the  disposal  of  the  government,  and  soon  became 
a  valued  worker  in  one  of  the  government's  new  War  Boards. 
Charles  Edward  Russell  (§  819),  choosing  to  be  an  American 
rather  than  a  Socialist  if  he  could  not  be  both,  became  one  of 
a  great  Commission  to  Russia,  and  on  his  return  supported 


§  874]  AMERICA  UNITED  729 

and  explained  the  war  with  voice  and  pen.  And  the  oldest 
Socialist  paper  in  America,  The  Appeal  to  Reason,  soon  de 
clared  itself  convinced  by  President  Wilson's  statements,  and 
came  out  as  The  New  Appeal  in  support  of  the  war.  The 
German-American  press  remained,  in  great  measure,  semi- 
treasonable  ;  but  the  great  majority  of  Americans  of  German 
birth  or  descent  rallied  promptly  to  the  flag  of  the  land  they 
had  chosen.  Most  important  of  all,  the  organized  wage 
earners  spoke  with  emphasis  and  unity  for  America  and 
democracy.  Led  by  their  patriotic  president,  Samuel  Gompers, 
the  delegates  of  the  American  Federation  in  November,  by  a 
vote  of  21,579  local  unions  as  against  402,  organized  the 
Alliance  for  Labor  and  Democracy  to  support  the  war  and  to 
combat  a  pacifist  "  People's  Council "  which  had  been  claiming 
to  speak  for  labor. 

Notable  above  all,  was  the  absence  of  rancor  and  evil 
passion,  and  the  dominating  presence  of  high  idealism  and 
quiet  heroism  in  our  new  soldiers  and  in  the  homes  they  had 
left.  At  last  the  President's  proud  prophecy  had  become 
fact :  — 

"  There  will  come  that  day  when  the  world  will  say,  '  This  America 
that  we  thought  was  full  of  contrary  counsels  now  speaks  with  the 
great  volume  of  the  heart's  accord ;  and  the  great  heart  of  America  has 
behind  it  the  supreme  moral  force  of  righteousness  and  of  hope  for  the 
liberty  of  mankind.'  " 

874.  The  End  of  the  War.  Early  in  1918  Germany  began  a 
series  of  "  drives  "  to  break  the  Allied  lines  and  win  the  war. 
These  were  met  by  strategic  retreats  and  masterly  defence 
under  Marshal  Foch,  now  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Allied  armies. 

Meanwhile  America,  spurred  on  by  the  peril  of  the  Allies, 
sent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  each  month  to  strengthen 
the  French  and  English  lines.  With  these  additions  Foch  soon 
had  sufficient  strength  to  assume  the  offensive.  On  July  18,  in 
meeting  the  final  German  drive,  the  Americans  attacked  at 
Chateau-Thierry  and  from  that  date  the  offensive  was  continued 


730  THE  WAR  FOR  DEMOCRACY  [§874 

along  the  whole  Western  Front  till  the  Germans  asked  for 
an  armistice.  This  was  granted,  and  began  Nov.  11,  1918. 

875.  The  Peace  Treaty.  Early  in  1919  representatives  of 
the  Allies  met  at  Versailles  for  the  most  important  Peace 
Conference  ever  held.  After  long  discussion  the  terms  of  a 
peace  treaty,  including  a  covenant  for  a  League  of  Nations, 
were  drawn  up  and  after  some  delay  were  ratified  by  most  of 
the  Allies  and  by  the-  Central  Powers. 

In  America  the  Senate  was  unable  to  agree  upon  a  form  of 
treaty  which  it  was  willing  to  ratify.  Thus  in  1920  the 
United  States  is  still  technically  at  war  with  Germany. 

Stirring  times  are  before  us  —  times  once  more  to  try  men's 
souls.  Europe  is  still  in  desperate  peril  of  social  dissolution ; 
even  America  is  not  wholly  free  from  danger  that  revolution 
may  destroy  the  wholesome  and  progressive  evolution  of  our 
society  ;  and  the  world  is  not  yet  out  of  the  peril  of  a  frightful 
shortage  of  food.  True,  too,  there  is  going  on  a  dangerous  re 
action  typified  by  the  arrogant  attitude  of  the  Steel  Company 
in  1919  toward  its  striking  employees.  And  these  reactionaries 
have  known  how  to  throw  discredit  upon  all  progressive  move 
ments  by  confusing  them  in  the  popular  mind  with  Bolshevism. 
But  men  of  faith  believe  that  the  outlook  brightens,  and  that  a 
new  day  is  breaking.  Just  after  the  exhausting  conflict,  there 
was  a  let  down,  a  slump  in  morale.  Society  was  marked  for  a 
time  by  careless  self-indulgence  and  by  thoughtless  indifference 
toward  great  issues.  But  already  there  surges  up  again  in  the 
masses  of  mankind  a  new  wave  of  moral  earnestness,  promising 
a  world  "  safe  for  democracy  "  and  "  fit  for  heroes." 

High  school  youth  for  years  will  remember  vividly  the  war 
years  and  their  regret  that  they  were  too  young  to  play  a  part. 
Now  theirs  is  perhaps  a  harder  part.  The  challenge  to  them  is 
to  complete  the  work  for  which  their  elder  brothers  died  —  to 
strive  in  peace  for  freedom  and  human  brotherhood. 

"  If  ye  break  faith  with  us  who  die, 
We  shall  not  sleep,  though  poppies  blow 
In  Flanders  fields. " 


APPENDIX   I 

THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 

(Recommended  by  the  Philadelphia  Convention  to  the  States,  Septem 
ber  17,  1787  ;  ratified  by  the  ninth  State,  June  21,  1788  ;  in  effect,  April 
30,  1789.  The  text  is  that  printed  in  the  Revised  Statutes  (1878),  except 
for  (1)  the  footnote  references,  and  (2)  the  brackets  used  in  a  few  instances 
to  inclose  portions  of  the  document  no  longer  effective.  Interpolated  matter, 
in  the  same  type  as  this  paragraph,  is  placed  within  marks  of  parenthesis. ) 

We  the  People  of  the  United  States,  hi  Order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
Union,  establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  Tranquility,  provide  for  the 
common  defence,  promote  the  general  Welfare,  and  secure  the 
Blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  Posterity,  do  ordain  and 
establish  this  CONSTITUTION  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I 

Section  i.  All  legislative  Powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested 
hi  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives. 

Section  2.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of 
Members  chosen  every  second  Year  by  the  People  of  the  several  States, 
and  the  Electors  hi  each  State  shall  have  the  Qualifications  requisite 
for  Electors  of  the  most  numerous  Branch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  Age  of  twenty  five  Years,  and  been  seven  Years  a  Citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant  of 
that  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the 
several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according  to 
their  respective  numbers  [which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the 
whole  Number  of  free  Persons,  including  those  bound  to  Service  for  a 
Term  of  Years],  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  [three  fifths  of  all 
other  Persons].1  The  actual  Enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three 

i  The  abolition  of  slavery  has  rendered  obsolete  the  clauses  within  brackets 
in  this  paragraph. 

1 


2  APPENDIX  I 

Years  after  the  first  Meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
within  every  subsequent  Term  of  ten  Years,  in  such  Manner  as  they 
shall  by  Law  direct.1  The  number'of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed 
one  for  every  thirty  Thousand,2  but  each  State  shall  have  at  Least  one 
Representative. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  Representation  from  any  State,  the 
Executive  Authority  thereof  shall  issue  Writs  of  Election  to  fill  such 
Vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  chuse  their  Speaker  and  other 
Officers ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  Power  of  Impeachment. 

Section  3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of 
two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  [by  the  Legislature  thereof,] 3  for 
six  Years ;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  Vote. 

[Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  Consequence  of  the 
first  Election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three 
Classes.  The  Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  Class  shall  be  vacated 
at  the  Expiration  of  the  second  Year,  of  the  second  Class  at  the  Expira 
tion  of  the  fourth  Year,  and  of  the  third  Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the 
sixth  Year],  so  that  one  third  may  be  chosen  every  second  Year;  [and 
if  Vacancies  happen  by  Resignation,  or  otherwise,  during  the  Recess 
of  the  Legislature  of  any  State,  the  Executive  thereof  may  make  tem 
porary  Appointments  until  the  next  Meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which 
shall  then  fill  such  Vacancies.] 4 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age 
of  thirty  Years,  and  been  nine  Years  a  Citizen  of  the  United  States,  and 
who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he 
shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of  the 
Senate,  but  shall  have  no  Vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  other  Officers,  and  also  a  President  pro 
tempore,  in  the  Absence  of  the  Vice  President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise 
the  Office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  Power  to  try  all  Impeachments.  When 
sitting  for  that  Purpose,  they  shall  be  on  Oath  or  Affirmation.  When 
the  President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall 
preside :  And  no  Person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  Concurrence  of 
two  thirds  of  the  Members  present. 

1  The  first  census  was  taken  in  1790,  and  one  has  been  taken  in  the  closing 
year  of  each  decade  since. 

2  The  First  Congress  made  the  number  33,000.    It  is  now  (1916)  193,284. 
8  Superseded  by  the  Seventeenth  Amendment. 

4  See  Seventeenth  Amendment. 


APPENDIX  I  3 

Judgment  in  Cases  of  Impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to 
removal  from  Office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  Office 
of  honor,  Trust,  or  Profit  under  the  United  States :  but  the  Party  con 
victed  shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to  Indictment,  Trial, 
Judgment,  and  Punishment,  according  to  Law. 

Section  4.  The  Tunes,  Places,  and  Manner  of  holding  Elections  for 
Senators  and  Representatives  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the 
Legislature  thereof ;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time  by  Law  make 
or  alter  such  Regulations  [except  as  to  the  Places  of  chusing  Senators]. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  Year,  and  such 
Meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall 
by  Law  appoint  a  different  Day. 

Section  5.  Each  House  shall  be  the  Judge  of  the  Elections,  Returns, 
and  Qualifications  of  its  own  Members,  and  a  Majority  of  each  shall 
constitute  a  Quorum  to  do  Business;  but  a  smaller  Number  may 
adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  Attend 
ance  of  absent  Members,  in  such  Manner,  and  under  such  Penalties 
as  each  House  may  provide. 

Each  House  may  determine  the  Rules  of  its  Proceedings,  punish  its 
Members  for  disorderly  Behaviour,  and,  with  the  Concurrence  of  two 
thirds,  expel  a  member. 

Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal  of  its  Proceedings,  and  from  time 
to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  Parts  as  may  in  their  Judgment 
require  Secrecy;  and  the  Yeas  and  Nays  of  the  Members  of  either 
House  on  any  question  shall,  at  the  Desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  Present, 
be  entered  on  the  Journal. 

Neither  House,  during  the  Session  of  Congress,  shall,  without  the 
Consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any 
other  Place  than  that  hi  which  the  two  Houses  shall  be  sitting. 

Section  6.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a  Com 
pensation  for  their  Services,  to  be  ascertained  by  Law,  and  paid  out  of 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all  Cases,  except 
Treason,  Felony,  and  Breach  of  the  Peace,  be  privileged  from  Arrest 
during  their  Attendance  at  the  Session  of  their  respective  Houses,  and 
hi  going  to  and  returning  from  the  same ;  and  for  any  Speech  or  Debate 
in  either  House,  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  Place. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  Time  for  which  he 
was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  Office  under  the  Authority  of  the 
United  States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  Emoluments 
whereof  shall  have  been  encreased  during  such  tune ;  and  no  Person 
holding  any  Office  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a  Member  of 
either  House  during  his  Continuance  in  Office. 


4  APPENDIX  I 

Section  7.  All  Bills  for  raising  Revenue  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Representatives ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with 
Amendments  as  on  other  Bills. 

Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives 
and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  Law,  be  presented  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States ;  If  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if 
not  he  shall  return  it,  with  his  Objections,  to  that  House  in  which  it 
shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the  Objections  at  large  on  their 
Journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If  after  such  Reconsideration 
two  thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the  Bill,  it  shall  be  sent, 
together  with  the  Objections,  to  the  other  House,  by  which  it  shall 
likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two  thirds  of  that  House, 
it  shall  become  a  Law.  But  in  all  such  Cases  the  Votes  of  both  Houses 
shall  be  determined  by  Yeas  and  Nays,  and  the  Names  of  the  Persons 
voting  for  and  against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  Journal  of  each 
House  respectively.  If  any  Bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President 
within  ten  Days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented 
to  him,  the  Same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  Manner  as  if  he  had  signed 
it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  Adjournment  prevent  its  Return, 
in  which  Case  it  shall  not  be  a  Law.1 

1  The  veto  provision  in  the  Massachusetts  Constitution  of  1780  (§  268)  ran :  — 

"  Article  II.  No  bill  or  resolve  of  the  senate  or  house  of  representatives 
shall  become  a  law,  and  have  force  as  such,  until  it  shall  have  been  laid  be 
fore  the  governor  for  his  revisal;  and  if  he,  upon  such  revision,  approve 
thereof,  he  shall  signify  his  approbation  by  signing  the  same.  But  if  he  have 
any  objection  to  the  passing  of  such  bill  or  resolve,  he  shall  return  the  same, 
together  with  his  objections  thereto,  in  writing,  to  the  senate  or  house  of  rep 
resentatives,  in  whatsoever  the  same  shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter 
the  objections  sent  down  by  the  governor,  at  large,  on  their  records,  and  pro 
ceed  to  reconsider  the  said  bill  or  resolve;  but  if  after  such  reconsideration, 
two-thirds  of  the  said  senate  or  house  of  representatives  shall,  notwithstanding 
the  objections,  agree  to  pass  the  same,  it  shall,  together  with  the  objections, 
be  sent  to  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature,  where  it  shall  also  be  reconsid 
ered,  and  if  approved  by  two-thirds  of  the  members  present,  shall  have  the 
force  of  law ;  but  in  all  such  cases,  the  vote  of  both  houses  shall  be  deter 
mined  by  yeas  and  nays ;  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  or  against 
the  said  bill  or  resolve  shall  be  entered  upon  the  public  records  of  the  Com 
monwealth. 

"  And  in  order  to  prevent  unnecessary  delays,  if  any  bill  or  resolve  shall 
not  be  returned  by  the  governor  within  five  days  after  it  shall  have  been  pre 
sented,  the  same  shall  have  the  force  of  law." 

The  "  pocket-veto  "  clause  (the  last  provision  of  the  text  above)  was  origi 
nal  in  the  Federal  Constitution. 


APPENDIX  I  5 

Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote  to  which  the  Concurrence  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  on  a 
question  of  Adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  and  before  the  Same  shall  take  Effect,  shall  be  approved 
by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  according  to  the  Rules  and 
Limitations  prescribed  in  the  Case  of  a  Bill. 

Section  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  To  lay  and  collect 
Taxes,  Duties,  Imposts,  and  Excises,  to  pay  the  Debts  and  provide 
for  the  common  Defence  and  general  Welfare  of  the  United  States; 
but  all  Duties,  Imposts,  and  Excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the 
United  States ; 

To  borrow  Money  on  the  Credit  of  the  United  States ; 

To  regulate  Commerce  with  foreign  Nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  Tribes ; 

To  establish  an  uniform  Rule  of  Naturalization,  and  uniform  Laws 
on  the  subject  of  Bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States ; 

To  coin  Money,  regulate  the  Value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  Coin, 
and  fix  the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures ; 

To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  Securities 
and  current  Com  of  the  United  States ; 

To  establish  Post  Offices  and  post  Roads ; 

To  promote  the  Progress  of  Science  and  useful  Arts,  by  securing 
for  limited  Times  to  Authors  and  Inventors  the  exclusive  Right  to  their 
respective  Writings  and  Discoveries ; 

To  constitute  Tribunals  inf  erior  to  the  supreme  Court ; 

To  define  and  punish  Piracies  and  Felonies  committed  on  the  high 
Seas,  and  Offences  against  the  Law  of  Nations ; 

To  declare  War,  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal,  and  make 
Rules  concerning  Captures  on  Land  and  Water ; 

To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but  no  Appropriation  of  Money  to  that 
Use  shall  be  for  a  longer  Term  than  two  Years ; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy ; 

To  make  Rules  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  Forces ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia  to  execute  the  Laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  Insurrections  and  repel  Invasions ; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining,  the  Militia,  and 
for  governing  such  Part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  Service  of 
the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively,  the  Appointment 
of  the  Officers,  and  the  Authority  of  training  the  Militia  according  to 
the  discipline  prescribed  by  Congress : 


6  .  APPENDIX  I 

To  exercise  exclusive  Legislation  in  all  Cases  whatsoever,  over  such 
District  (not  exceeding  ten  Miles  square)  as  may,  by  Cession  of  partic 
ular  States,  and  the  Acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  Seat  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like  Authority  over 
all  Places  purchased  by  the  Consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in 
which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  Erection  of  Forts,  Magazines,  Arsenals, 
dock- Yards,  and  other  needful  Buildings ;  —  And 

To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers,  and  all  other  Powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  Depart 
ment  or  Officer  thereof. 

Section  9.  [The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such  Persons  as  any  of 
the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  pro 
hibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  Year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eight,  but  a  Tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  Importation,  not 
exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  Person.] 

The  Privilege  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  shall  not  be  suspended, 
unless  when  in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or  Invasion  the  public  Safety  may 
require  it. 

No  Bill  of  Attainder  or  ex  post  facto  Law  shall  be  passed. 

No  Capitation,  or  other  direct,1  Tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  Propor 
tion  to  the  Census  or  Enumeration  herein  before  directed  to  be  taken. 

No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on  Articles  exported  from  any  State. 

No  Preference  shall  be  given  by  any  Regulation  of  Commerce  or 
Revenue  to  the  Ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another:  nor  shall 
Vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay 
Duties  in  another. 

No  Money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in  Consequence  of 
Appropriations  made  by  Law ;  and  a  regular  Statement  and  Account  of 
the  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  all  public  Money  shall  be  published 
from  tune  to  time. 

No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States :  And  no 
Person  holding  any  Office  of  Profit  or  Trust  under  them,  shall,  with 
out  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  Emolument, 
Office,  or  Title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  King,  Prince,  or  foreign 
State. 

Section  10.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  Treaty,  Alliance,  or 
Confederation;  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal;  coin  Money; 
emit  Bills  of  Credit ;  make  any  Thing  but  gold  and  silver  Coin  a  Tender 
in  Payment  of  Debts ;  pass  any  Bill  of  Attainder,  ex  post  facto  Law,  or 

1  Modified  by  the  Sixteenth  Amendment. 


APPENDIX  I  7 

Law  impairing  the  Obligation  of  Contracts,  or  grant  any  Title  of 
Nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  Im 
posts  or  Duties  on  Imports  or  Exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely 
necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  Laws :  and  the  net  Produce  of  all 
Duties  and  Imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  Imports  or  Exports,  shall  be 
for  the  Use  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States ;  and  all  such  Laws 
shall  be  subject  to  the  Revision  and  Controul  of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  Duty  of 
Tonnage,  keep  Troops,  or  Ships  of  War  in  time  of  Peace,  enter  into 
any  Agreement  or  Compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  Power, 
or  engage  in  War,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  Danger 
as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 

ARTICLE  H 

Section  i.  The  executive  Power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  Office  during  the  Term  of 
four  Years,  and,  together  with  the  Vice  President,  chosen  for  the  same 
Term,  be  elected,  as  follows 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  Manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors,  equal  to  the  whole  Number  of  Sen 
ators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the 
Congress:  but  no  Senator  or  Representative,  or  Person  holding  an 
Office  of  Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed 
an  Elector. 

[The  Electors  shall  meet  hi  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  Ballot 
for  two  Persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  Inhabitant  of  the 
same  State  with  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a  List  of  all  the 
Persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  Number  of  Votes  for  each ;  which  List  they 
shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The 
President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  Presence  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  open  all  the  Certificates,  and  the  Votes  shall  then  be 
counted.  The  Person  having  the  greatest  Number  of  Votes  shall  be  the 
President,  if  such  Number  be  a  Majority  of  the  whole  Number  of  Elec 
tors  appointed ;  and  if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  Majority, 
and  have  an  equal  Number  of  Votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  immediately  chuse  by  Ballot  one  of  them  for  President ;  and  if  no 
Person  have  a  Majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  List  the  said 
House  shall  hi  like  Manner  chuse  the  President.  But  in  chusing  the 
President,  the  Votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  Representation  from 


8  APPENDIX  I 

each  State  having  one  Vote  ...  In  every  Case,  after  the  Choice  of  the 
President,  the  Person  having  the  greatest  Number  of  Votes  of  the  Elec 
tors  shall  be  the  Vice  President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more 
who  have  equal  Votes,  the  Senate  shall  chuse  from  them  by  Ballot  the 
Vice  President.]1 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  Time  of  chusing  the  Electors,  and 
the  Day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  Votes ;  which  Day  shall  be  the 
same  throughout  the  United  States. 

No  Person  except  a  natural  born  Citizen,  or  a  Citizen  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time  of  the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  eligible 
to  the  Office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any  Person  be  eligible  to  that 
Office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  Age  of  thirty  five  Years,  and 
been  fourteen  Years  a  Resident  within  the  United  States. 

In  Case  of  the  Removal  of  the  President  from  Office,  or  of  his  Death, 
Resignation,  or  Inability  to  discharge  the  Powers  and  Duties  of  the  said 
Office,  the  Same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice  President,  and  the  Congress 
may  by  Law  provide  for  the  Case  of  Removal,  Death,  Resignation,  or 
Inability,  both  of  the  President  and  Vice  President,  declaring  what 
Officer  shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such  Officer  shall  act  accordingly, 
until  the  Disability  be  removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected.2 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive  for  his  Services,  a  Com 
pensation,  which  shall  neither  be  encreased  nor  diminished  during  the 
Period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive 
within  that  Period  any  other  Emolument  from  the  United  States,  or 
any  of  them.3 

Before  he  enter  on  the  Execution  of  his  Office,  he  shall  take  the  fol 
lowing  Oath  or  Affirmation :  — 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the 

1  Superseded  by  Twelfth  Amendment,  which  might  well  have  been  sub 
stituted  for  this  paragraph  in  the  body  of  the  document. 

2  In  1792  Congress  provided  that  the  president  pro  tern  of  the  Senate  should 
be  next  in  succession,  and  after  him  the  Speaker  of  the  House.     In  1886  (Jan. 
19),  this  undesirable  law  was  supplanted  by  a  new  one  placing  the  succession 
(after  the  Vice  President)  in  the  following  order :  Secretary  of  State,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  Secretary  of  War,  Attorney  General,  Postmaster  General, 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

8  What  is  the  antecedent  of  "  them  "  ?  The  salary  of  George  Washington 
was  fixed  by  the  First  Congress  at  $25,000.  This  amount  remained  unchanged 
until  1871,  when  it  was  made  $50,000.  In  1909  the  salary  was  raised  to  $75,000. 
Large  allowances  are  made  also,  in  these  latter  days,  for  expenses  of  various 
sorts, — one  item  of  $25,000,  for  instance,  for  traveling  expenses, — which  is 
the  reason  the  salary  is  commonly  referred  to  as  $100,000. 


APPENDIX  I  9 

Office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my 
Ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States." 

Section  2.  The  President  shall  be  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Militia  of  the  several  States, 
when  called  into  the  actual  Service  of  the  United  States ;  he  may  require 
the  Opinion,  hi  writing,  of  the  principal  Officer  in  each  of  the  executive 
Departments,  upon  any  Subject  relating  to  the  Duties  of  their  respective 
Offices,  and  he  shall  have  Power  to  grant  Reprieves  and  Pardons  for 
Offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment. 

He  shall  have  Power,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the 
Senate,  to  make  Treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Senators  present 
concur ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent 
of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and 
Consuls,  Judges  of  the  supreme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the 
United  States,  whose  Appointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided 
for,  and  which  shall  be  established  by  Law :  but  the  Congress  may  by 
Law  vest  the  Appointment  of  such  inferior  Officers,  as  they  think  proper, 
in  the  President  alone,  in  the  Courts  of  Law,  or  in  the  Heads  of  Depart 
ments. 

The  President  shall  have  Power  to  fill  up  all  Vacancies  that  may 
happen  during  the  Recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  Commissions  which 
shall  expire  at  the  End  of  their  next  Session. 

Section  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress  Infor 
mation  of  the  State  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  Consideration 
such  Measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient;  he  may,  on 
extraordinary  Occasions,  convene  both  Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and 
in  Case  of  Disagreement  between  them,  with  Respect  to  the  Time  of 
Adjournment,  he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  Time  as  he  shall  think 
proper ;  he  shall  receive  Ambassadors  and  other  public  Ministers ;  he 
shall  take  Care  that  the  Laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  Commis 
sion  all  the  Officers  of  the  United  States. 

Section  4.  The  President,  Vice  President,  and  all  civil  Officers  of 
the  United  States  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  Impeachment  for, 
and  conviction  of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other  high  Crimes  and  Mis 
demeanours. 

ARTICLE   III 

Section  i.  The  judicial  Power  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  vested 
in  one  supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may 
from  tune  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  Judges,  both  of  the 
supreme  and  inferior  Courts,  shall  hold  their  Offices  during  good 


10  APPENDIX  I 

Behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive  for  their  Services,  a  Com 
pensation,  which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  Continuance  in 
Office. 

Section  2.  The  judicial  Power  shall  extend  to  all  Cases,  in  Law  and 
Equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  Laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  Authority ;  — 
to  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls ; 
—  to  all  Cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  Jurisdiction ;  —  to  Contro 
versies  to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  Party ;  —  to  Controversies 
between  two  or  more  States ;  —  between  a  State  and  Citizens  of  another 
State  1 ;  —  between  Citizens  of  different  States,  —  between  Citizens 
of  the  same  State  claiming  lands  under  Grants  of  different  States,  — 
and  between  a  State,  or  the  Citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  States,  Citizens 
or  Subjects. 

In  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Con 
suls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  Party,  the  supreme  Court  shall 
have  original  Jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  Cases  before  mentioned,  the 
supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  Jurisdiction,  both  as  to  Law  and 
Fact,  with  such  Exceptions,  and  under  such  Regulations  as  the  Congress 
shall  make. 

The  trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment,  shall  be  by 
Jury ;  and  such  Trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  Crimes 
shall  have  been  committed ;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  State, 
the  Trial  shall  be  at  such  Place  or  Places  as  the  Congress  may  by  Law 
have  directed. 

Section  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States,  shall  consist  only  in 
levying  War  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  Enemies,  giving  them 
Aid  and  Comfort.  No  Person  shall  be  convicted  of  Treason  unless  on 
the  Testimony  of  two  Witnesses  to  the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Confession 
in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  declare  the  Punishment  of  Treason, 
but  no  attainder  of  Treason  shall  work  Corruption  of  Blood,  or  Forfeiture 
except  during  the  Life  of  the  Person  attainted. 

(On  the  appellate  jurisdiction,  cf.  §§  352  a  and  372.  Section  25  of  the 
Judiciary  Act  of  1789,  still  in  force,  defines  that  jurisdiction  as  follows  : 

"  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  a  final  judgment  or  decree  in  any 
suit,  in  the  highest  court  of  law  or  equity  of  a  State  in  which  a  decision 
in  the  suit  could  be  had,  when  is  drawn  in  question  the  validity  of  a 
treaty  or  statute  of,  or  an  authority  exercised  under,  the  United  States, 
and  the  decision  is  against  their  validity ;  or  when  is  drawn  in  question 

1  Limited  by  the  Eleventh  Amendment  to  cases  begun  by  a  State. 


APPENDIX  I  11 

the  validity  of  a  statute  of,  or  an  authority  exercised  under,  any  State,  on 
the  ground  of  their  being  repugnant  to  the  Constitution,  treaties,  or  laws 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  decision  is  in  favor  of  such  their  validity  ; 
or  when  is  drawn  in  question  the  construction  of  any  clause  of  the  Con 
stitution,  or  of  a  treaty,  or  statute  of,  or  commission  held  under,  the 
United  States,  and  the  decision  is  against  the  title,  right,  privilege,  or 
exemption,  specially  set  up  or  claimed  .  .  .  under  such  clause  of  the  said 
Constitution,  treaty,  statute,  or  commission,  may  be  re-examined,  and 
revised  or  affirmed  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  upon  a 
writ  of  error  .  .  ." 

The  "inferior  courts"  at  present  (1918)  are,  from  the  bottom  up:  — 

1.  District   Courts.     Over  ninety.     The  law  of   1789  provided  for 
thirteen. 

2.  Circuit  Courts.    Nine,  each  three  justices.    The  first  law,  1789, 
provided  three  circuit  courts,  but  no  special  circuit  judges ;  a  circuit  court 
then  consisted  of  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  "  or  circuit  "  and  one  or 
more  judges  of  district  courts  included  within  the  circuit.    This  remained 
the  rale  with  a  brief  attempt  at  change  in  1801  (§  421),  until  1866,  when 
separate  circuit  justices  were  provided. 

3.  Circuit  Courts  of  Appeals.     One  for  each  of  the  nine  circuits,  com 
posed  of  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  of  other  Federal  judges  — 
not  less  than  three  in  all,  and  not  including  any  justice  from  whose  deci 
sion  the  appeal  is  taken.     This  order  of  courts  was  instituted  in  1891,  to 
relieve  the  Supreme  Court  which  was  then  hopelessly  overburdened  with 
appeals  from  lower  courts.     In  most  cases  the  decision  of  a  circuit  court 
of  appeals  is  final. 

4.  The  Supreme  Court.     One  Chief  Justice  and  eight  Associate  Jus 
tices.    Its  business  now  is  confined  very  largely  to  those  supremely  impor 
tant  matters  specified  in  the  Constitution  and  in  the  law  of  1789  quoted 
above. 

There  are  also  two  special  courts,  somewhat  outside  this  system  :  (1) 
the  Federal  Court  of  Claims,  to  determine  money  claims  against  the 
United  States,  established  in  1855  ;  (2)  Court  of  Customs  Appeals,  estab 
lished  in  1909.) 

ARTICLE   IV 

Section  i.  Full  Faith  and  Credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the 
public  Acts,  Records,  and  judicial  Proceedings  of  every  other  State. 
And  the  Congress  may  by  general  Laws  prescribe  the  Manner  in  which 
such  Acts,  Records  and  Proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  Effect 
thereof. 


12  APPENDIX  I 

Section  2.  The  Citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  Privi 
leges  and  immunities  of  Citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  Person  charged  in  any  State  with  Treason,  Felony,  or  other  Crime, 
who  shall  flee  from  Justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall  on 
Demand  of  the  executive  Authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be 
delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  Jurisdiction  of  the 
Crime. 

[No  Person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in  one  State,  under  the  Laws 
thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  hi  Consequence  of  any  Law  or 
Regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  Service  or  Labour,  but 
shall  be  delivered  up  on  Claim  of  the  Party  to  whom  such  Service  or 
Labour  may  be  due.] l 

Section  3.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union ;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  Juris 
diction  of  any  other  State ;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  Junction  of 
two  or  more  States,  or  Parts  of  States,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Legis 
latures  of  the  States  concerned  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful 
Rules  and  Regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or  other  Property 
belonging  to  the  United  States ;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall 
be  so  construed  as  to  Prejudice  any  Claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
any  particular  State. 

Section  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in 
this  Union  a  Republican  Form  of  Government,  and  shall  protect  each 
of  them  against  Invasion ;  and  on  Application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of 
the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature  cannot  be  convened)  against 
domestic  Violence. 

ARTICLE  V 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem  it 
necessary,  shall  propose  Amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or,  on  the 
Application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall 
call  a  Convention  for  proposing  Amendments,  which,  in  either  Case, 
shall  be  valid  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes,  as  Part  of  this  Constitution, 
when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  several  States, 
or  by  Conventions  in  three  fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other 
Mode  of  Ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  Congress ;  Provided  [that 
no  Amendment  which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  Year  One  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in  any  Manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth 
Clauses  in  the  Ninth  Section  of  the  first  Article ;  and]  that  no  State,  with 
out  its  Consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  Suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

1  Superseded,  so  far  as  slaves  are  meant,  by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment. 


APPENDIX  I  13 

ARTICLE  VI 

All  Debts  contracted  and  Engagements  entered  into,  before  the 
Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United 
States  under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Confederation. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  Pursuance  thereof ;  and  all  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be 
made,  under  the  Authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme 
Law  of  the  Land ;  and  the  Judges  hi  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby, 
any  Thing  in  the  Constitution  or  Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary 
notwithstanding. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the  Mem 
bers  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial 
Officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  shall  be 
bound  by  Oath  or  Affirmation,  to  support  this  Constitution;  but  no 
religious  Test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  Qualification  to  any  Office  or 
public  Trust  under  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE   VH 

The  Ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States,  shall  be  sufficient 
for  the  Establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratify 
ing  the  Same. 

AMENDMENTS 


Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion, 
or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of 
speech,  or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble, 
and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

[ii] 

A  well  regulated  Militia,  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free 
State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  Arms,  shall  not  be 
infringed. 

[iii] 

No  Soldier  shall,  hi  time  of  peace  be  quartered  hi  any  house,  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  Owner,  nor  hi  time  of  war,  but  hi  a  manner  to 
be  prescribed  by  Law. 

1  Originally,  the  first  twelve  amendments  were  not  numbered  in  the  official 
manuscripts. 


14  APPENDIX  I 

[iv] 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers, 
and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be 
violated,  and  no  Warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  probable  cause,  sup 
ported  by  Oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to 
be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

[v] 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise  infa 
mous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand  Jury 
except  hi  cases  arising  hi  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  Militia, 
when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  War  or  public  danger ;  nor  shall  any 
person  be  subject  for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of 
life  or  limb  ;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness 
against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without 
due  process  of  law ;  nor  shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use, 
without  just  compensation. 

[vi] 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district 
wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have 
been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature 
and  cause  of  the  accusation ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against 
him ;  to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor, 
and  to  have  the  Assistance  of  Counsel  for  his  defence. 

[vii] 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved,  and  no  fact 
tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  Court  of  the  United 
States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

[viii] 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  nor 
cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

[ix] 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be 
construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 


APPENDIX  I  15 


The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively 
or  to  the  people. 

M  (1798) 

The  Judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to 
extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted  against 
one  of  the  United  States  by  Citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  Citizens 
or  Subjects  of  any  Foreign  State. 

[xii]  (1804) 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot 
for  President  and  Vice  President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an 
inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves  ;  they  shall  name  in  their 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the 
person  voted  for  as  Vice  President,  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists 
of  all  persons  voted  for  as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as 
Vice  President,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they 
shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate  ;  —  The 
President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates  and  the  votes  shall  then  be 
counted  ;  —  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  Presi 
dent,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  Electors  appointed  ;  and  if  no  person  have  such  majority, 
then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three 
on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in  choosing  the 
President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  representation  from 
each  State  having  one  vote  ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a 
member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of 
all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of 
Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of 
choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next 
following,  then  the  Vice  President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the  President.  —  The 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice  President,  shall  be 
the  Vice  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of 

1  These  first  ten  amendments  were  in  force  after  November  3,  1791. 


16  APPENDIX  I 

Electors  appointed,  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two 
highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice  President ; 
a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number 
of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a 
choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  Presi 
dent  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice  President  of  the  United  States. 

xiii  (1865) 

Section  i.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a 
punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted, 
shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  juris 
diction. 

Section  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 
appropriate  legislation. 

xiv  (1868) 

Section  i.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  hi  the  United  States,  and 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall  make  or  enforce 
any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States :  nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of  life, 
liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  deny  to  any  person 
within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 

Section  2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  num 
ber  of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed.  But  when 
the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice  of  electors  for  President 
and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  Representatives  hi  Congress, 
the  Executive  and  Judicial  officers  of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such 
State,  being  twenty  one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  hi  rebellion,  or  other 
crime,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  pro 
portion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole 
number  of  male  citizens  twenty  one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

Section  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in 
Congress,  or  elector  of  President  and  Vice  President,  or  hold  any  office, 
civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who, 
having  previously  taken  an  oath,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an 
officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  legislature,  or 
as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support  the  Constitu- 


APPENDIX   I  17 

tion  of  the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion 
against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But 
Congress  may  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such 
disability. 

Section  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States, 
authorized  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions 
and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  rebellion,  shall 
not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State  shall 
assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or 
rebellion  against  the  United  States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emanci 
pation  of  any  slave ;  but  all  such  debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be 
held  illegal  and  void. 

Section  5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

xv  (1870) 

Section  i.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any  State  on 
account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

Section  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article 
by  appropriate  legislation. 

xvi  (1913) 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes  on  incomes, 
from  whatever  source  derived,  without  apportionment  among  the  States, 
and  without  regard  to  any  census  or  enumeration. 

xvii1 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  Senators 
from  each  State,  elected  by  the  people  thereof  for  six  years ;  and  each 
Senator  shall  have  one  vote.  The  electors  in  each  State  shall  have 
the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch 
of  the  State  Legislatures. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  of  any  State  in  the 
Senate,  the  executive  authority  of  such  State  shall  issue  writs  of  elec 
tion  to  fill  such  vacancies :  Provided,  that  the  Legislature  of  any  State 
may  empower  the  executive  thereof  to  make  temporary  appointments 
until  the  people  fill  the  vacancies  by  election  as  the  legislature  may 
direct. 

i  Proclaimed  in  force,  1913. 


18  APPENDIX  I 

xviii   (1920) 

Section  i.  After  one  year  from  the  ratification  of  this  article  the 
manufacture,  sale,  or  transportation  of  intoxicating  liquors  within,  the 
importation  thereof  into,  or  the  exportation  thereof  from  the  United 
States  and  all  territory  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  for  beverage 
purposes,  is  hereby  prohibited. 

Section  2.  The  Congress  and  the  several  states  shall  have  concur 
rent  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 

Section  3.  This  article  shall  be  inoperative  unless  it  shall  have  been 
ratified  as  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  by  the  Legislatures  of  the 
several  States  as  provided  in  the  Constitution  within  seven  years  from 
the  date  of  the  submission  hereof  to  the  States  by  the  Congress. 


APPENDIX  II 

A  SELECT  LIBRARY  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

(No  books  on  the  World  War,  now  in  progress,  are  listed.  Every  library 
however  should  have  the  publications  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Information 
printed  for  free  distribution  by  the  Government  Printing  Office  at  Washington. 
Several  of  these  are  especially  referred  to  in  notes  in  the  final  chapter  of  this 
book.) 

Adams  (Brooks).  Emancipation  of  Massachusetts  (an  anti-Puritan  account 
of  the  overthrow  of  Puritan  theocracy).  Houghton.  $ 1.50. 

Adams  (Henry).  History  of  the  United  States  in  the  Administration  of 
Jefferson.  (This  is  part  of  a  larger  work  continuing  the  story  to  1824. 
In  all  there  are  nine  volumes.  Volumes  I  and  II  ($  2.00  each)  may  profit 
ably  be  used  by  students.)  Scribner. 

Adams  and  Sumner.    Labor  Problems.    Macmillan.    $1.50. 

Andrews  (C.  M.).  Colonial  Self-government.  (American  Nation  Series.) 
Harpers.  $2.00. 

—  The  Colonial  Period.     (Home  University  Library.)     Holt.    $  .50. 
Babcock(K.  C.).    Rise  of  American  Nationality.    (American  Nation  Series.) 

Harpers.     $  2.00. 
BassettQ.  S.).  The  Federalist  System.    (American  Nation.)   Harpers.  $2.00. 

—  A  Short  History  of  the  United  States.    Macmillan.     $  2.50. 

Becker  (Carl  L.).    Beginnings  of  the  American  People  (vol.  I  of  the  Riverside 

History  of  the  United  States).    Houghton.     $  1.25. 

Bourne  (E.  G.).      Spain  in  America.     (American  Nation.)    Harpers.     $2.00. 
Bradford  (William) .    History  of  Plymouth  Plantation.    (Original  Narrative 

Series.)     Scribner.    $  3.00. 

Brown  (W.G.).    Andrew  Jackson.    Houghton.    $.50. 

Bryce  (James).    The  American  Commonwealth.    2  vols.    Macmillan.    $  4.00. 
Channing  (Edward).    The  Jeffersonian  System.    (American  Nation  Series.) 
Harpers.    $  2.00. 

—  History  of  the  United  States.     (Three  volumes  ready,  through  the  Revo 
lution.)     Macmillan.     $  2.50  a  volume. 

Dewey  (Davis  Rich).  National  Problems.  (American  Nation.)  Harpers.  $2.00. 
Dodd  (Wm.  E.).     Expansion  and  Conflict  (vol.  Ill  of  the  Riverside  History  of 

the  United  States).    Houghton.    $1.25.     (The  best  brief  treatment  of  the 

period  from  Jackson  to  Lincoln.) 

19 


20  APPENDIX  II 

Dodge  (T.  A.)-    Bird's-eye  View  of  our  Civil  War.    Houghton.    $1.00. 
Dunn  (J.  P.).    Indiana.     (American  Commonwealths.)     Houghton.    $1.50. 
Dunning  (W.  A.) .    Reconstruction,  1865-1877.     (American  Nation.)    Harpers. 

$2.00. 
Earle  (Alice  Morse) .    Customs  and  Fashions  in  Old  New  England.     Houghton. 

$1.50. 

Eggleston  (Edward).    Beginners  of  a  Nation.    Appleton.    $2.00. 
Eggleston  (G.  C.)     A  Rebel's  Recollections.     Putnam.     $1.00. 
Farrand  (Max),  editor.    Records  of  the  Federal  Convention  of  1787.    3  vols. 

Yale  University  Press.     $  15.00. 

Fish  (C.  R.).    American  Diplomacy  (to  1915).     Holt.    $  2.75. 
Fiske  (John).    Discovery  of  America.    2  vols.    Houghton.     $4.00. 

Old  Virginia  and  her  Neighbors.    2  vols.    Houghton.     $4.00. 

American  Revolution.    2  vols.    Houghton.     $4.00. 

-  The  Critical  Period.    Houghton.     $2.00. 

Garrison  (G.  P.).    Westward  Extension.    (American  Nation.)    Harpers.  $2.00. 
Greene  (E.B.).    Provincial  America.    (American  Nation.)    Harpers.    $2.00. 
Hart  (A.  B.).    Salmon  P.  Chase.     (American  Statesman.)    Houghton.    $1.50. 
Haworth  (P.  L.).    Reconstruction  and  Union.     (Home  University  Library.) 

Holt.    $.50. 

Hosmer  (James  K.).  Samuel  Adams.  (American  Statesman.)  Houghton.  $1.50. 
Howard  (G.  E.) .    Preliminaries  of  the  Revolution.     (American  Nation  Series.) 

Harpers.    $  2.00. 

Johnson  (Tom  L.).     My  Story.    Huebsch.    $2.00. 
LaFollette  (R.  M.).    Personal  Narrative  of  Political  Experiences.    Doubleday. 

$1.50. 
Lee    (Robert   E.).      Recollections    and  Letters    of  General  Robert  E.  Lee. 

Doubleday.     $2.50. 
Lodge  (Henry  Cabot).     George  Washington.     (American  Statesman  Series.) 

2  vols.     Houghton.    $3.00. 

Alexander  Hamilton.    (American  Statesman  Series.)    Houghton.    $1.50. 

—  Daniel  Webster.     (American  Statesman  Series.)     Houghton.    $1.50. 
McDonald  (William).    Select  Documents  illustrative  of  the  History  of  the 

United  States,  177&-1861.    Macmillan.     $  1.50. 
Jacksonian  Democracy.     (American  Nation  Series.)     Harpers.    $  2.00. 

—  From  Jefferson  to  Lincoln.    (Home  University.)     Holt.     $  .50. 
McLaughlin  ( Andrew  C.).   Confederation  and  Constitution.    (American  Nation 

Series.)     Harpers.     $  2.00. 
Morse  (J.  T.).    Abraham  Lincoln.     (American   Statesman   Series.)      2  vols. 

Houghton.     $3.00. 

John  Quincy  Adams.     (American  Statesman  Series.)    Houghton.    $1.50 

Page  (Thomas  Nelson) .    The  Old  South.    Scribner.    $1.25. 


APPENDIX  II  21 

Parkman  (Francis).     Half-Century  of  Conflict.    2  vols.     Little,  Brown,  &  Co 
$3.00. 

—  Montcalm  and  Wolfe.    2  vols.     Little,  Brown,  &  Co.     $3.00. 
Conspiracy  of  Pontiac.    Button.    2  vols.    Each  $  .35. 

Paxson  (F.  L.) .  The  Civil  War  (1854-1855).   (Home  University  Library.)    Holt. 

$.50. 

The  New  Nation.     (Riverside  History ;  1861-1915.)     Houghton.    $  1.25. 

Price    (Overton).     The  Land  We  Live  In  ("Boys'  Book  of  Conservation.") 

Small,  Maynard  &  Co.      $1.50. 

Roosevelt    (Theodore) .       Thomas  Benton.       (American    Statesman    Series.) 
Houghton.     $1.50. 

Gouverneur  Morris.     (American  Statesman  Series.)     Houghton.    $  1.50. 

Winning  of  the  West.    6  vols.    Putnam.    $3.00. 

Fifty  Years  of  My  Life.     Macmillan.    $  2.50. 

Schouler  (James).    Thomas  Jefferson.     (Makers  of  America.)     Dodd.     $1.00. 
Schurz  (Carl).    Henry  Clay.     (American  Statesman.)    Houghton.    $1.50. 
Straus  (0.  S.).    Roger  Williams.     (Makers  of  America.)     Century.    $1.00. 
Tarbell  (Ida  M.) .    The  Tariff  in  Our  Own  Times.    2  vols.    Macmillan.    $  3.00. 

—  History  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.    2  vols.    Macmillan.    $5.00. 
The  Golden  Rule  in  Business.    Macmillan.     $  2.00. 

Thwaites  (R.  G.).    France  in  America.     (American  Nation  Series.)     Harpers. 

$2.00. 

Tocqueville  (Alexis  de) .    Democracy  in  America.     Barnes.     $2.50. 
Turner  (Frederic  J.).    Rise  of  the  New  West.     (American  Nation  Series.) 

Harpers.     $2.00. 

Twichell  (John).    John  Winthrop.     (Makers  of  America.)     Century.     $1.00. 
Van  Tyne.     American  Revolution.     (American  Nation.)     Harpers.     $2.00. 
Walker  (Francis  A.).    Making  of  the  Nation.     Scribuer.     $1.00. 
Washington  (Booker  T.).    Story  of  the  Negro.    2  vols.    Doubleday.     $3.00! 
West  (W.   M.),  editor.     Source  Book  in  American  History,  to   1789.    Allyn 

and  Bacon.    $1.50. 

Whitlock  (Brand).    Forty  Years  of  It  [1875-1914].    Appleton.    $1.00. 
Wilson  (Woodrow).    Congressional  Government.    Houghton.     $1.25. 

Division  and  Reunion.    Longmans.     $1.25. 

Woodburn  (J.  A.),  editor.    Lecky's  American  Revolution.     Appleton.    $1.00. 

A  SHORT   LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIVE  FICTION 

Austin  (Jane  G.).    Standish  of  Standish.    Houghton. 
Avary  (M.  L.).    A  Virginia  Girl  in  the  Civil  War.     Appleton, 
Churchill  (Winston) .    The  Crossing ;  The  Crisis ;  Mr.  Carewe's  Career ;  A  Far 
Country.    Macmillan. 


22  APPENDIX  II 

Eggleston  and  Seelye.    Pocahontas.    Dodd. 

Foote  (Mary  Hallock) .    Cceur  d'Alene.    Houghton. 

Ford  (P.  L.) .    The  Honorable  Peter  Sterling.    Holt. 

Garland  (Hamlin).     Cavanagh,  The  Forest  Ranger;  Hesper  (a  story  of  the 

recent  West).    Harpers. 
Johnston  (Mary).    To  Have  and  to  Hold.    Houghton. 

Prisoners  of  Hope.    Houghton. 

Kingsley  (Charles).    Westward  Ho.     (Everyman's  Library.)    Button. 
Larcom  (Lucy).    A  New  England  Girlhood.    Houghton. 
Lindsey  (B.  B.).    The  Beast  and  the  Jungle.    Doubleday. 
Norris  (Frank).    The  Octopus.     Grosset. 

The  Pit.    Grosset. 

Page  (T.  N.).    Red  Rock.     Scribner. 

Among  the  Camps.     Scribner. 

Stimson  (F.  J.).    King  Noanett.     Scribner. 

Tarkington  (Booth).    The  Turmoil.    Harpers. 

White  (Stewart  Edward).    The  Riverman.    Doubleday. 

The  Rules  of  the  Game.    Doubleday. 

White  (William  Allen).     A  Certain  Rich  Man.    Macmillan. 
Wister  (Owen).    The  Virginian.    Macmillan. 

ESSAYS 

Crothers  (Samuel).    The  Pardoner's  Wallet  (for  the  essay,  "  The  Land  of  the 

Large  and  Charitable  Air  ").    Houghton. 
Lowell  (James  Russell).    Works  (for  "  New  England  Two  Centuries  Ago  ") 

Houghton. 

Wilson  (Woodrow).    Mere  Literature  (for  "The  Course  of  American  His 
tory").    Macmillan. 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Abolitionists,  560,  608,  609 ;  political 
abolitionists,  614.  See  Slavery. 

Adams,  Charles  P.,  and  the  Ala 
bama,  689. 

Adams,  Henry,  quoted  on  America 
iu  1800,  438 ;  War  of  1812  not  due  to 
impressment,  473. 

Adams,  John,  reports  Otis'  speech, 
216;  on  danger  of  ecclesiastical  in 
terference  by  England,  224  and  note ; 
defends  British  soldiers,  240;  on 
First  Continental  Congress,  250 ;  on 
formation  of  State  governments, 
260,  264 ;  on  July  2  and  Declaration 
of  Independence,  263;  and  negotia 
tions  of  1783,  287,  289;  Vice  Presi 
dent,  366 ;  defends  monarchic  forms, 
368,  369 ;  described  by  Maclay,  369, 
note;  reelection,  388;  President, 
389 ;  on  origin  of  nominating  caucus, 
390;  on  danger  of  political  parties, 
391 ;  and  troubles  with  France,  409- 
411;  Treaty  of  1800,  411;  adminis 
tration,  412  ff . ;  and  Fries'  Rebellion, 
412;  defeat  in  1800,  412;  and  "  mid 
night  judges,"  422;  opposes  exten 
sion  of  franchise,  564. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  and  Treaty 
of  Ghent,  476;  on  Federalist  plots 
in  1803,  477 ;  and  claims  to  Oregon, 
503;  and  Monroe  Doctrine,  504; 
election  to  presidency,  517,  518 ;  ad 
ministration,  519,  520;  and  the  civil 
service,  568;  and  right  of  petition, 
613. 

Adams,  Samuel,  and  Revolutionary 
committees  of  correspondence,  243; 
first  American  "boss,"  ib. ;  objects 
to  central  authority,  326;  and  "We 


the  people,"  362;  on  true  Republi 
canism,  387. 

Administrations,  table  of,  1877- 
1917,  723.  See  Elections,  Presiden 
tial. 

Ag-assiz,  556. 

Agriculture,  deficient  in  French  col 
onies,  16;  in  English  colonies,  3, 
204-206;  about  1800,  437;  about 
1830,  561 ;  about  1860,  644 ;  in  South 
after  Civil  War,  727;  and  recent 
legislation.  846. 

Aguinaldo,W. 

Alabama,  admitted,  498. 

Alabama  claims,  689;  arbitration 
of,  712. 

Alamo,  Massacre  of  the,  615. 

Alaska,  southern  boundary  fixed, 
504;  purchased,  712;  gold  in,  769; 
and  conservation  (Ballinger  inci 
dent),  839. 

Alden,  John,  70. 

Alg-onkins,  6. 

Alien  and  Sedition  Acts,  413,  414. 

Amending1  clauses  in  constitu 
tions,  in  Peun's  Charter  of  1701, 
175 ;  in  Revolutionary  State  consti 
tutions,  274 ;  in  Articles  of  Confed 
eration,  330,  331  c;  difficulty  of,  in 
the  Federal  Constitution,  347,  828, 
839  and  note. 

Amendments  to  Federal  Consti 
tution,  difficulty,  see  Amending 
clauses;  first  ten,  371;  eleventh,. 
373;  twelfth,  424;  thirteenth,  684, 
701 ;  fourteenth,  703;  fifteenth,  sev 
enteenth,  704,  828,  839;  sixteenth, 
839  (and  see  Income  Tax). 

America,  see  Geography,  Society. 


23 


24 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


American  Colonization  Society, 
602. 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
806'  and  the  War  for  Democracy, 
873. 

American  Fur  Company,  435 ;  and 
War  of  1812,  473. 

American  party,  see  Know-Nothing 
party. 

American  Revolution,  212-291 ; 
preparation  for,  in  intercolonial 
wars,  212  ff . ;  Grenville's  plan  to  tax 
America  and  "  justification,"  212- 
220;  Sugar  Act,  221;  Stamp  Act, 
222;  underlying  causes,  224-232; 
and  English  reform,  229;  a  true 
civil  war,  230;  and  social  upheaval, 
231,  232 ;  agitation  preceding  war, 
233  ff . ;  Stamp  Act,  233-237 ;  Town- 
shend  Acts,  238;  Lord  North,  238; 
Boston  Massacre,  240;  committees 
of  correspondence,  243,  244;  begin 
nings  of  revolutionary  governments, 
246-251;  Boston  Tea  Party,  246-247  ; 
Boston  Port  Bill,  248 ;  First  Conti 
nental  Congress  and  the  Association, 
250-251 ;  from  colonies  to  common 
wealths,  252;  lines  drawn,  253;  and 
labor  class,  253 ;  provisional  govern 
ments,  254,  260 ;  Second  Continental 
Congress,  255;  Lexington,  255;  In 
dependence  ^  258,  259;  Declaration 
of,  263;  State  governments,  264; 
campaigns,  264,  283-2'86;  American 
disunion,  276,  277;  inefficiency  of 
Congress,  278 ;  generals,  279 ;  neglect 
of  army  by  Congress,  279;  paper 
money,  282;  French  alliance,  283; 
England's  European  foes,  283 ;  York- 
town,  286 ;  Peace,  287-291 ;  meaning 
of,  292. 

Ames,  Fisher,  on  democracy,  426. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  150,  151. 

Anna,  Santa,  615. 

Annapolis  Convention,  334,  335. 

'Antietam,  667. 

Antifederalists,  explanation  of 
name,  358,  note. 

Anti-rent  riots,  in  New  York, 
599. 


Anti-slavery  movement,  in  1789- 
90,  382.  See  Slavery. 

Appalachians,  effect  on  early  settle 
ment,  5. 

Appeals  from  colonial  courts,  to 
England,  141,  146,  153,  172,  189. 

Appellate  jurisdiction  of  Su 
preme  Court,  352,  372 ;  attempt  to 
repeal,  513. 

Arbitration,  International,  in  the 
Jay  Treaty,  406;  of  Alabama 
Claims,  712 ;  and  U.  S.  Senate,  758, 
775 ;  and  Bryan  treaties,  775. 

Archbold  (Justice),  450,  note, 
786. 

Arizona,  the  recall  and  admission, 
72(5,  827. 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  dismissed  from 
New  York  Custom  House,  734;  Vice 
President,  735  ;  President,  736. 

Articles  of  Confederation,  309, 
311,  318;  and  land  cessions,  ib. ; 
weaknesses,  322  ff.,  especially  330, 
331. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  435. 

Astoria,  468,  503. 

Atlanta,  in  the  Civil  War,  669. 

Audubon,  556. 

Australian  ballot,  824. 

Avalon,  Baltimore's  Province  cvf,  50. 

Bacon's  Rebellion,  160-162. 

Ballinger,  Richard,  836. 

Ballot,  use  in  London  Company  in 
England,  42;  first  use  in  America, 
and  development,  96-98.  See  Aus 
tralian  ballot. 

Baltimore,  Lord,  see  Calvert. 

"  Barnburners,"  the,  627. 

Barter,  trade  by,  in  early  colonies, 
208 ;  in  early  West,  303. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  on  need  of 
Western  influence  in  government, 
503;  and  preemption  laws,  575,  592. 

Berkeley,  Sir  William,  47,  49, 
156  if. ;  on  schools,  198. 

Bessemer  Steel,  and  modern  build 
ing,  728  and  note. 

Bicameral  legislatures,  demanded 
in  Maryland,  54;  evolution  in  Mas- 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


sachusetts,  102;  in  Revolutionary 
State  constitutions,  266,  272;  aris 
tocracy  and  democracy,  272. 

"Big  Business,"  729-733;  as  a  mo 
nopoly,  788.  See  Trust,  Money 
power. 

Bill  of  Rights,  in  First  Virginia  con 
stitution,  262;  in  othcsr  Revolution 
ary  State  constitutions,  266;  in 
Northwest  Ordinance,  313;  want 
in  the  Federal  Constitution,  355  and 
note ;  supplied  by  first  ten  amend 
ments,  371. 

Birney,  James  G.,  free  speech  and 
slavery,  611 ;  leader  of  political 
abolitionists,  614;  campaign  of 
1844,  618. 

"  Black  Friday  "  in  1869,  750. 

Elaine,  James  G.,  718,  738,  740,  758. 

Blockade,  discussed,  400  a  and  b ;  in 
the  Civil  War,  6(58.  See  Submarine. 

Blue  Laws,  192,  193. 

Body  of  Liberties,  the,  101. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  and  Louisi 
ana  Purchase,  460,  465;  and  "de 
crees  "  on  American  commerce,  470- 
473. 

Boone,  Daniel,  299,  301. 

"Boss,"  in  politics,  571,  572;  and 
"  Big  Business,"  802. 

Boston,  founded,  80,  note ;  first  town 
school,  199;  "  massacre,"  240;  "  tea 
party,"  247;  Port  bill,  and  conse 
quence,  248. 

Bradford,  Governor  William, 
quoted  on  Plymouth,  61,  62,  63,  65, 
67,  68;  as  governor,  68,  69;  charter 
and  surrender,  71 ;  quoted  on  Roger 
Williams,  115,  note. 

Brandeis,  Louis,  813  a. 

Brewster,  William,  63. 

Bristow,  Benjamin  H.,  714. 

Brook  Farm,  558. 

Brooke,  Lord,  on  religious  freedom, 
119. 

Brown,  John,  642. 

Brown  University,  198,  note. 

Bryan,  William  J.,  in  1896,  757;  in 
1900,  769;  in  1908,  838;  treaties  "to 
promote  peace,"  775;  and  Baltimore 


Convention  in  1912,  842;  and  the 
"cooling  off"  treaties,  775;  and 
pacifism,  873. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  556. 

Buchanan,  James,  as  Secretary  of 
State  to  Polk, demands  "all of  Mex 
ico,"  622;  Ostend  Manifesto,  623; 
President,  636;  attitude  toward  se 
cession,  658;  and  Sumter,  663;  loy 
alty  to  Lincoln,  664. 

Bull  Run,  Battle  of,  667. 

Bureau  of  Corporations,  795. 

Burgesses,  House  of,  37. 

Burgoyne's  Invasion,  283. 

Burke,  Edmund,  on  England's  right 
to  tax  America,  228;  on  union  be 
tween  colonies  and  England,  ib. 

Burke,  William,  on  return  of  Can 
ada  to  France,  214  note. 

Burr,  Aaron,  419, 423,  424 ;  duel  with 
Hamilton,  477  note. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  and  "contra 
band,"  680. 

Byrd,  Colonel  William,  and 
"graft  "  in  public  lands  in  colonial 
Virginia,  165;.  on  degrading  influ 
ence  of  slavery  on  free  labor,  203. 

Cabinet,  the,  370,  385,  395;  new  de 
partments,  370. 

Cabot,  George,  on  democracy,  426. 

Cahokia,  288,  292. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  a  "Warhawk," 
473 ;  a  Nationalist  in  1816,  507,  508 ; 
abandons  nationalist  positions,  575; 
"Exposition"  of  nullification,  579; 
and  slavery,  606;  and  Texas,  617; 
and  new  territory,  625  (squatter 
sovereignty) ;  and  Compromise  of 
1850,  630. 

California,  acquired,  620, 622 ;"  free  " 
State,  1848-1850,  626,  628;  and  gold, 
628;  admission,  629;  and  progressive 
politics,  823,  827,  829. 

Calvert,  Cecilius  (Second  Lord  Bal 
timore),  50  ff. 

Calvert,  George  (First  Lord  Balti 
more),  50. 

Calvin,  John,  political  teacher  of  the 
Puritans :  denounces  democracy,  89. 


26 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Cambridge  Agreement,  the,  38. 

Campaign  funds,  and  assessment  of 
office-holders,  735,  736  ;  and  Big 
Business,  801,  note;  legislation  to 
check  abuses  in,  ib. 

Canal  building,  era  of,  495-497. 

Canning,  George,  and  England  and 
Monroe  Doctrine,  504. 

Cannon,  Joseph,  837. 

Capitalist  system,  534,  536,  537. 

Carolinas,  the,  187. 

Carpetbaggers,  707. 

Carranza,  847. 

Carver,  John,  65,  69. 

Cass,  Lewis,  627. 

Caucus,  Nominating,  origin  of,  390 ; 
congressional,  for  Presidential  can 
didates,  389 ;  in  election  of  1824, 517 ; 
gives  way  to  convention  system,  569. 

Cavaliers,  the,  in  Virginia,  154-156. 

Champlain,  Samuel  de,  founds 
Quebec,  12. 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  and 
labor  movement,  543 ;  and  abolition 
movement,  609. 

Charles  I,  45,  84  ff . 

Charles  II,  49 ;  and  first  colonial  de 
partment,  133,  134;  and  Massachu 
setts,  141-142. 

Charter  colonies,  value  of  distinc 
tion,  188. 

Charters,  royal :  character,  19 ;  Gil 
bert's  and  Raleigh's,  20,  25;  First 
Virginia,  22,  25;  Virginia  of  1609 
and  1612, 32 ;  to  Baltimore  for  Mary 
land,  51;  to  New  England  Council, 
58 ;  to  Company  for  Massachusetts, 
75;  which  becomes  charter  of  cor 
poration  "on  the  place,"  78,  79; 
Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  143, 
144;  Province  of  Massachusetts,  152, 
153;  to  Penn  for  Pennsylvania,  171, 
172.  From  proprietors  to  settlers, 
see  colonies  by  name. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  abolitionist  why, 
614 ;  Secretary  of  Treasury,  673-675 ; 
Chief  Justice,  on  Legal  Tender  Act, 
711. 

Chase,  Samuel,  Justice  of  Supreme 
Court,  on  Declaration  of  Independ 


ence,  319;  on  manhood  suffrage,  449; 
and  sedition  trials,  449 ;  attempt  to 
impeach,  450. 

Chattanooga,  Battle  of,  669. 

"Checks  and  balances,"  in  the 
Constitution,  354. 

Child  labor,  in  18J30,  539,  540;  in  the 
New  South  after  1880,  727;  law  to 
check,  in  1916,  813  b,  847. 

Children's  Bureau,  813  b. 

China,  and  the  American  Open-Door 
policy,  771. 

Chisholm  v.  Georgia,  373. 

City  government,  degradation  after 
Civil  War,  798-800. 

City  growth,  see  Population. 

Civil  Service,  defined,  448  note ;  and 
Washington  and  Adams,  448;  and 
Jefferson,  448;  and  Jackson  (Spoils 
system),  568;  and  Crawford's  four- 
year  bill,  568 ;  and  Lincoln,  662  note ; 
1865-1880,  734;  and  Garfield,  735; 
reforms  and  Civil  Service  Act  of 
1883,  737;  and  Cleveland,  738;  and 
Harrison,  742;  and  Roosevelt,  ib. 

Civil  War,  the,  655  ff . ;  Border  States 
saved,  666;  Bull  Run,  667;  North 
ern  strategy,  667  ff . ;  blockade,  668 ; 
campaigns,  669;  forces,  670;  prison 
camps,  671;  draft,  672;  finance, 
673-676;  and  slavery,  680-684;  and 
England,  685-691 ;  cost,  692-694 ;  re 
sults,  693. 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  288,  300; 
and  Spain,  306. 

Clark,  Captain  William,  467,  468. 

Clarkson,  "  the  Headsman,"  742. 

Clay,  Henry,  a  "Warhawk,"  473, 
474;  protectionist,  507,  508;  and 
"the  American  system,"  510;  cam 
paign  of  1824,  517,  518;  Secretary  of 
State,  518;  duel  with  Randolph, 
518,  note;  characterized,  575;  and 
the  Bank,  576  ff . ;  and  Compromise 
of  1833,  584;  and  preemption  law, 
592;  and  Compromise  of  1850,  629, 
630. 

Clayton  Anti-trust  Act,  845. 

Clermont,  the,  459. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  President,  738; 


INDEX 


27 


References  are  to  sections 


defeat  in  1888,  741;  reflected  in 
1892,  745;  vetoes,  744;  and  silver, 
757 ;  and  the  radicals,  757  note ;  and 
Hawaii,  758  b ;  and  Venezuela  arbi 
tration,  758  c ;  and  forfeiture  of  rail 
way  land  grants,  778  note ;  and  rail 
way  strike  of  1894,  809. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  495. 

Clinton,  George,  366,  388. 

"Closed  shop,"  817. 

Coal  strike  of  19O2,  810. 

Colonial  Assemblies  (see  colonies 
byname),  gains  in  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  190. 

Colonial  industries,  204-209.  See 
Labor. 

Colorado,  726. 

Columbia  River,  prophesied  by  Jef 
ferson,  466;  discovered,  467. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  9. 

Commerce,  colonial,  8,  58, 66,  68,  73, 
83,  163,  205-208;  and  navigation 
acts,  which  see ;  and  European  wars 
of  1792-1815,  399-400,  470;  begin 
nings  of  Oriental,  435 ;  in  1860,  634, 
635;  recent,  743,  749,  771. 

Commerce  Court,  786  note. 

Committees  of  Correspondence, 
Revolutionary,  243,  244. 

Common  Law,  English  becomes 
American,  191;  expressly  adopted 
in  Revolutionary  State  constitu 
tions,  266;  and  labor  movement, 
544;  and  women,  560. 

Commonwealth,  the  English,  ex 
plained,  48;  and  Virginia,  48,  49. 

Communication,  colonial,  4,  5,  8; 
in  1800,  434;  in  1850,  643,  644,  645. 
See  Steamboat,  Roads,  Railroads. 

Compromises,  the  Great,  in  the 
Constitution,  344-346,  350,  361;  be 
tween  North  and  South,  of  1820, 
515;  of  1833,  584;  of  1850,  629,  633. 

Conant,  Roger,  73,  74. 

Concord,  Battle  of,  255. 

Confederation  of  New  England, 
128-131. 

Confederations,  two  types  of,  332- 
333. 

Congresses,  Stamp  Act,  235;  First 


Continental,  249-251 ;  not  a  govern- 
ment,  251;  Second  Continental,  255- 
256;  weakness,  278,  281,  282;  and 
Treaty  of  Peace,  288;  weakness 
after  1781,  318,  323,  324 ;  and  Shays' 
Rebellion,  328  ;  expires,  363. 

Connecticut,  democratic  ideal,  120; 
founded,  124;  and  Hooker,  125; 
Fundamental  Orders  of,  126;  early 
franchise,  126;  retained  theocracy, 
127;  Dutch  claims,  128;  and  New 
England  Confederation,  128  ff . ; 
Charter  of  1662,  144;  resists  Eng 
lish  control  of  militia,  186;  western 
claim  and  cessions,  308,  311. 

Connecticut  Compromise,  the, 
344-346. 

Conservation,  835. 

Constellation,  and  the  Vengeance,  410. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
see  Federal  Constitution. 

Constitutions,  Revolutionary 
State,  261,  262,  265-274. 

Continental  currency,  282,  324; 
and  Hamilton's  settlement,  375. 

Continental  debt,  funded,  375. 

"Contraband,"  and  General  Butler, 
680. 

Contraband  of  War,  400. 

"Contract,"  inviolability  of,  and 
Dartmouth  College  Case,  355. 

Convention  of  1818,  on  Northern 
boundary,  501 ;  of  1817,  on  disarma 
ment  on  the  Great  Lakes,  502. 

Conway  Cabal,  286. 

Cooper,  James  Penimore,  556. 

Copley,  John  Singleton,  441. 

Cotton,  and  Industrial  Revolution, 
436 ;  and  the  Civil  War,  which  see. 

Cotton,  John,  on  democracy,  89 ;  on 
life  office,  92 ;  and  Body  of  Liberties, 
101 ;  on  political  rights  of  clergy,  113. 

Cotton  gin,  436. 

County,  see  Local  Government. 

Cowpens,  Battle  of,  284. 

Cradock,  Matthew,  79,  84. 

Crawford,  W.  H.,  517,  518,  568. 

Credit  Mobilier,  716. 

"  Critical  Period,"  the  (1783-1788) 
322-329. 


28 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Cuba,   and    Spanish-American   War, 

759-765 ;  and  the  World  War,  869. 
Cumberland  Settlements,  302-303. 
Cutler,  Manasseh,  313,  315. 

Daguerre,  invents  photography,  561. 

Dakota,  North  and  South,  726. 

Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  33. 

Dale's  Code,  33. 

Dartmouth  College  case,  365,  794. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  494,  655,  700. 

Debs,  Eugene  V.,  811,  821. 

Debt,  Imprisonment  for,  after  the 
Revolution,  326;  in  1800,  440;  in 
1830,  549  and  note;  and  the  labor 
movement,  550. 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
258-262,  263 ;  and  the  States,  319. 

Delaware,  172,  note. 

Democracy,  at  Plymouth,  70;  dis 
liked  by  Puritan  leaders  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  89;  struggle  with  aris 
tocracy  in  Massachusetts,  87-102; 
in  Connecticut,  123-126 ;  growth  in 
Revolution,  231 ;  and  Revolutionary 
constitutions,  270-273;  and  the 
41  West,"  180,211,  231,  297,  298,  302; 
distrusted  in  Federal  Convention, 
338-339,  354-356;  and  the  ratifica 
tion,  359;  distrusted  by  Federalists, 
418-426 ;  movement  toward  resumed 
in  "revolution  of  1800,"  443  ff. ; 
and  "  free  land,"  442 ;  growth  about 
1830,  527,  563,  564;  opposition  of 
older  statesmen,  562;  see  Labor; 
and  new  Western  States,  563 ;  Jack- 
sonian  and  Jeffersonian  contrasted, 
565;  new  political  machinery  of 
Jackson's  day,  569-573;  more  direct 
democracy  of  the  recent  progressive 
movement,  803,  825-832.  See  Pro 
gressive  movement,  Labor,  Woman 
Suffrage,  War  for  Democracy. 

Democratic  Party,  origin,  520. 

Dewey,  George,  761,  762. 

Dickens,  Charles,  and  America,  526. 

Dickinson,  John,  338,  356. 

Direct  tax.  of  1898,  412 ;  of  1861 , 673. 

Disarmament  on  the  Great 
Lakes,  502. 


Donelson,  Port,  669. 

Dorchester,  80,  note;  and  democ 
racy,  104,  124. 

Dorr's  Rebellion,  600. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  634,  639,  640, 
651-654,  664. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  17,  24. 

Dred  Scott  case,  637. 

Ducking  stool,  192. 

Dunmore's  War,  300. 

Education,  in  the  colonies,  198,  199; 
government  aid  in  Survey  Ordi 
nance,  313,  314;  grant  for  State 
universities,  315;  in  1800,  441;  and 
labor  movement  of  1830, 540, 549, 552 ; 
and  Horace  Mann,  553;  in  the  New 
West,  554;  "Higher"  after  1830, 
555 ;  intellectual  ferment  of  the  thir 
ties,  556, 557  ;  after  the  Civil  War,  733. 

Edw^ards,  Jonathan,  197. 

Eight-hour  day,  the  demand  for 
since  18(55,  813  a ;  and  the  railway 
law  of  1916,  814. 

Elections,  Presidential,  1788,  363- 
367;  Federalist  disregard  of  peo 
ple's  will  in,  365;  1792,  388;  1796, 
389-390;  1800,  419-425;  1804,  452; 
1808  and  1812.  473  and  note;  181(5, 
516 ;  1820,  516 ;  1824,  517 ;  1828,  562, 
574;  1832,  578;  1836,590;  1840,  594, 
595;  1844,  597,  617-618;  1848,  626, 
627 ;  1852,  633 ;  1856,  636 ;  1860,  651- 
654 ;  1864,  684 :  1868,  706 ;  1872,  713 ; 
1876,718,  719;  1880,  735;  1884,  738; 
1888,  740;  congressional  in  1890, 
744 ;  1892,  745 ;  1896,  747,  757 ;  1900, 
831 ;  1904,  831  note ;  1908,  835 ;  con 
gressional  in  1910,  838;  1912,  841- 
844 ;  1916,  862. 

Electoral  College,  354;  becomes  a 
form  after  development  of  party 
government,  390. 

Electoral  Commission  of  1877, 
719. 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  680- 
682. 

Embargo  of  18O7,  472;  and  New 
England  treason,  478;  and  rise  of 
American  manufactures,  506. 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Emerson,  Ralph  "Waldo,  556;  and 
the  Transceudentalists,  558 ;  on  Web 
ster,  630 ;  on  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  631 ; 
on  John  Brown's  execution,  (i42. 

Employers'  Liability  Laws,  see 
Workman's  Compensation  Acts. 

Endicott,  John,  74,  75. 

England,  favored  in  America  by 
geography,  5 ;  motives  for  coloniza 
tion,  17-23;  rivalry  with  Spain,  17; 
royal  charters,  19;  commercial 
policy,  135  ff.,  184,  185;  English 
colonists  become  "  Colonial  Ameri 
cans,"  178;  gains  Florida  and  Mis 
sissippi  valley,  182;  attempts  at 
colonial  consolidation,  186  ff . ;  see 
American  devolution;  and  America 
in  1793,  399-407;  the  Jay  Treaty, 
404;  and  arbitration,  405;  and  ori 
gin  of  Monroe  Doctrine,  504;  and 
the  slave  trade,  603;  and  the  Civil 
War,  685-691 ;  and  Alabama  Arbi 
tration,  689,  712;  and  Venezuela 
Arbitration,  758  c;  and  the  World 
War,  857  ff . 

Entail,  in  Virginia,  204;  abolished 
by  Jefferson,  444. 

"  Era  of  Good  Feeling,"  516. 

Ericsson,  John,  668. 

Erie  Canal,  495. 

Essex  Junto,  477. 

Evans,  George  H.  and  Frederick 
W.,  545. 

Everett,  Edward,  556,  557. 

Factory  legislation,  813  d. 

Fall  Line,  the,  180. 

Fanning,  Edmund,  and  the  Regula 
tors,  231. 

Federal  Constitution,  see  Federal 
Convention;  Connecticut  Compro 
mise  and  result,  344,  345;  enumera 
tion  of  powers,  346;  implied  powers, 
347;  amendment,  347;  "general 
welfare "  and  "  necessary  and 
proper,"  348;  apportionment,  349; 
slavery,  350,  351;  judiciary,  352; 
electoral  college,  353;  checks  and 
balances,  354;  franchise,  356;  rati 
fication,  357-361 ;  "We  the  people," 


362  ;  development  of  unwritten,  in 
Federalist  period,  363  ff . ;  implied 
powers  again,  381.  See  Amend 
ments. 

Federal  Convention  at  Philadel 
phia,  events  leading  to,  333-335; 
records,  336 ;  make-up,  337 ;  dis 
trust  of  democracy,  338-339;  "par 
ties"  in,  340;  Virginia  Plan,  342; 
procedure  and  periods,  343;  New 
Jersey  Plan,  343;  compromises, 
344-347. 

Federal  government,  two  types  of, 
332,  333  ff. 

Federal  judiciary,  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  352;  and  Judiciary  Act  of 
1789,  372 ;  partisan  in  1800,  414  ff . ; 
Judiciary  Act  of  1801  and  repeal, 
421,  447;  and  the  States  (Chisholm 
v.  Georgia,  373;  Eleventh  amend 
ment,  373;  McCulloch  v.  Maryland, 
512) ;  and  unconstitutional  legisla 
tion,  327,  352  6,  451  ;  States  and, 
about  1820,  513 ;  and  Reconstruction, 
710 ;  and  legal  tender  acts,  711 ;  and 
industrial  and  labor  laws,  784,  794, 
811,  813  a. 

Federalist  party  of  1787-1789,  358. 

Federalists  of  1792,  386,  387,  413, 
414,  418,  419,  420;  achievements, 
425;  fatal  faults,  426;  in  War  of 
1812,  472,  479-483;  final  disappear 
ance,  483. 

Federal  Trade  Commission,  846. 

Fiat  money,  327. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  629. 

Fitch,  John,  459. 

Florida,  ceded  by  Spain  to  England, 
182;  Spanish,  and  northern  bound 
ary,  407;  acquired,  465  ;  admitted, 
624;  and  Texas  question,  465.  See 
West  Florida. 

Foote's  Resolution  of  1830,  580. 

Ford,  Henry,  and  the  war,  873. 

Fourteenth  amendment,  703;  se 
ceded  States  required  to  ratify,  704; 
failure  to  protect  political  or  civil 
rights,  720,  721;  protects  property 
interests  from  public  regulation, 
794. 


30 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Fox,  Charles  James,  230,  287. 

France,  in  America,  4,  7,  12;  chief 
rival  of  England,  13;  advantages  in 
America,  14;  causes  of  failure,  15, 
16 ;  ceases  to  be  an  American  power, 
181-182 ;  earlier  influence  in  Canada 
on  dependence  of  England's  colonies, 
214;  alliance  with  America,  283; 
and  American  territory  in  Treaty 
of  Peace  in  1783,  289,  290;  money 
aid  in  Revolution  and  after,  324; 
French  Revolution  and  American 
sympathies,  395  ;  and  the  American 
government,  396-398;  in  Adams' 
administration,  408-411  ;  "war," 
410;  Treaty  of  1800,  411;  troubles 
preceding  War  of  1812,  470-473 ;  in 
American  Civil  War,  686,  690;  Na 
poleon  HI  and  Mexico,  712  b ;  and 
the  World  War,  852  ff. 

Franchise,  colonial,  in  Plymouth,  69; 
in  Massachusetts,  95;  in  Connecti 
cut,  126;  in  Virginia,  157,  160-162; 
Revolutionary  State  constitutions, 
270-272 ;  in  Vermont,  273  ;  in  early 
Western  settlements,  298,  302 ;  in 
new  States  in  Federalist  period,  384 
6 ;  extension  from  1789  to  1830,  563; 
opposition  of  older  statesmen,  564; 
results  in  other  political  and  social 
changes,  566.  See  Woman  Suffrage. 

Frankland,  State  of,  303. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  and  first  cir 
culating  library,  198;  and  plan  for 
union,  213;  on  necessity  of  obeying 
Stamp  Act,  233;  denies  idea  of  in 
dependence  in  March,  1775,  258; 
and  Thomas  Paine,  259;  in  France, 
283;  and  peace  negotiations,  287, 
289  ;  in  Philadelphia  Convention, 
337,  339 ;  opposes  limitation  of  Fed 
eral  franchise,  356. 

Free  land,  and  democracy,  442 ;  leg 
islation  to  get  access  to,  541,  and 
see  Preemption  and  Homestead ;  dis 
appearance,  776. 

Free  press,  denied  in  early  Massa 
chusetts,  102;  vindicated  in  Zenger 
trial,  191  ;  see  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws;  and  slavery,  610-612. 


Free  Silver,  753-757 ;  question  passes 
away,  769. 

Free  Soilers,  627. 

Freedmen's  Bureau,  696. 

Fremont,  John  C.,  Republican  can 
didate,  636;  and  slavery,  680. 

Fries'  Rebellion,  412. 

Frontenac,  16. 

Frontiers,  the  successive,  in  Ameri 
can  history,  180,  317.  See  The 
West. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  185O,  629, 
631,  632. 

Fulton,  Robert,  459. 

Gadsden,  Christopher,  235,  258. 

Gadsden  Purchase,  the,  623. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  443  note,  447;  and 
civil  service,  448;  "Report"  of, 
456 ;  and  Treaty  of  Ghent,  476  ; 
abolitionist,  609. 

Galloway,  Joseph,  250. 

Garfleld,  James  A.,  735,  736. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  608. 

Gaspee,  the,  140. 

General  Search  Warrants,  and 
Otis'  speech,  216,  217;  in  Virginia 
Bill  of  Rights,  262;  in  Federal  "  Bill 
of  Rights,"  371. 

"General  welfare,"  clause  in  the 
Constitution,  discussed,  348;  used 
even  by  Jeffersonians,  461  a;  and 
by  Calhoun  in  1816,  492. 

Gen§t,  French  agent,  397. 

"  Gentlemen  "  in  colonial  times,  94. 

Geography,  influence  on  American 
colonial  history,  1-5 ;  influence  after 
1800,  430. 

George,  Henry,  803 ;  and  Australian 
ballot,  824. 

George  III,  and  American  Revolu 
tion,  229. 

Georgia,  187  ;  democratic  Revolu 
tionary  constitution,  266,  270;  and 
slavery  in  Federal  Convention,  351 
note;  and  Eleventh  amendment, 
373  ;  and  education  in  1800,  441  ; 
nullifies  the  Supreme  Court,  513, 586 

German  ."  Fright  fulness,"  policy 
of,  in  World  War,  857. 


INDEX 


31 


References  are  to  sections 


Germany,  immigration  from,  in  colo 
nial  period,  179 ;  and  after  1848,  684 ; 
which  saves  Missouri  to  the  Union, 
726;  and  Spanish- American  War, 
761,  762  ;  and  American  policy  in 
China,  771 ;  and  Venezuela  claims, 
772;  and  the  World  War,  848-873. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  opposes  democracy 
in  Federal  Convention,  358;  opposes 
ratification,  343;  and  Gerrymander, 
573. 

Gerrymander,  573. 

Gettysburg,  Battle  of,  667,  668. 

Ghent,  Peace  of,  476. 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  20. 

Gladstone,  "William  E.,  on  the 
American  Constitution,  341  ;  on  the 
Civil  War,  687. 

Glavis,  Louis,  836. 

Gompers,  Samuel,  806. 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando,  58,  84,  85, 
86. 

Gorges,  Robert,  58. 

Gould,  Jay,  750. 

Grangers,  782,  783. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  in  Civil  War, 
669,  670;  President,  706  ;  reelection, 
713  ;  corruption  under,  714  ;  and 
the  civil  service,  734  ;  attempt  at 
third  term  for,  735. 

Greeley,  Horace,  and  "protection," 
597  ;  and  right  of  secession,  659  ; 
and  election  of  1872,  713. 

Greenback  party,  752. 

Greenbacks,  see  Paper  Money. 

Grenville,  George,  218,  222. 

Hadley,  Arthur,  on  property  and 
the  Constitution,  776. 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  on  colonization, 
17,  23. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  New  York  a 
"sovereign"  State,  319;  attempts 
to  call  Federal  Convention,  324,  325 ; 
in  the  Federal  Convention,  337,  338; 
distrust  of  democracy,  338;  char 
acterized  by  Maclay,  369  note;  be 
comes  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
370;  on  inviolability  of  State  sov 
ereignty  before  Federal  courts,  373 ; 


finance,  374-378  ;  leak  of  his  plans 
and  the  consequent  speculation,  375; 
political  value  of  assumption,  377; 
and  Whisky  Rebellion,  378, 379;  and 
the  Bank,  380  ;  and- implied  powers, 
381 ;  and  organization  of  the  second 
Federalist  party,  387;  on  arbitra 
tion,  406;  and  the  "war"  of  1798, 
409 ;  and  election  of  1800,  424  note ; 
hero  of  the  Federalist  period,  425; 
on  democracy,  426;  and  secession 
plots  of  1803,  477  ;  death  in  duel 
with  Burr,  477  note. 

Hancock,  John,  and  Shays'  Rebel 
lion,  328  ;  and  ratification  of  the 
Constitution,  361. 

Hanna,  Mark,  757,  769. 

Harlan,  Justice,  on  Income  Tax  de 
cision,  746;  on  the  Interstate  Com 
merce  Commission  and  the  Supreme 
Court,  785. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  election,  741; 
and  the  civil  service,  742;  and  for 
eign  affairs,  758. 

Harrison,  William  H.,  and  Tippe- 
canoe,  488 ;  President,  594,  595. 

Hart,  Albert  Bushnell,  quoted  on 
War  of  1812,  471,  and  passim. 

Hartford  Convention,  the,  479^83. 

Harvard,  founded,  199  ;  in  1800,  441. 

Harvey,  Sir  George,  45,  46. 

Hawaii,  758  ;  annexed,  764. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  556;  and 
Brook  Farm,  558. 

Hay,  John,  771. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  718,  719  ; 
and  the  civil  service,  734. 

Hayne,  R.  Y.,  and  debate  with  Web 
ster,  580. 

Henry,  Patrick,  Scotch-Irish,  180  ; 
and  Stamp  Act  Resolutions,  234 ;  and 
religious  freedom,  262  note  ;  "I  am 
an  American,"  323  ;  opposes  call  for 
Federal  Convention,  335;  opposes 
ratification  of  Constitution,  362. 

Hepburn  Act,  the,  786. 

Higginson,  Francis,  75,  81  ;  de 
nounces  Separatists,  109. 

Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth, 
609,  632. 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


High  Cost  of  Living,  749. 

Holy  Alliance,  and  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  504. 

Homestead  law,  called  for  by  labor 
party  in  1830, -541  ;  vetoed  by  Bu 
chanan,  641  ;  passed  in  1862,  677  ; 
and  Reconstruction,  695. 

Hooker,  Thomas,  denounces  Sepa 
ratists,  109;  apostle  of  democracy, 
120,  125 ;  suggests  New  England 
Confederation,  128. 

Hoover,  Herbert  C.,  871. 

Horseshoe  Bend,  Battle  of,  and 
importance,  488. 

Houston,  "  Sam,"  615. 

Huguenots,  in  America,  179. 

Hutchinson,  Anne,  117,  118. 

Hutchinson,  Governor  Thomas, 
233;  house  sacked,  236 ;  and  Boston 
Massacre,  240 ;  and  Boston  Tea 
Party,  247. 

Idaho,  726. 

Illinois,  498;  and  rage  for  internal 
improvements,  587. 

Immigration,  from  the  Revolution 
to  1812,  486  ;  from  1816  to  1830,  ib.; 
to  1860,  ib.  note,  and  624 ;  after  18(55, 
725. 

Impeachment,  of  Justice  Pickering, 
450;  of  Justice  Chase,  450;  of  Jus 
tice  Archbold,  450  note,  786  ;  of 
President  Johnson,  705. 

"  Imperialism  "  after  Spanish- Amer 
ican  War,  768  ;  in  election  of  1900, 
769. 

Impressment  of  American  sea 
men  by  England  and  France,  401, 
402,  404,  473  and  note  ;  not  men 
tioned  in  Treaty  of  Ghent,  476. 

Imprisonment  for  debt,  see  Debt. 

Income  Tax,  of  1862,  673;  of  1893, 
745  ;  nullified  by  Supreme  Court, 
746;  and  Sixteenth  amendment,  841 ; 
and  laws  of  1913  and  1916,  846 ;  of 
1917,  871. 

Indentured  servants,  see  Servants. 

Independence,  see  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

Independent  Treasury  plan,  591. 


Indiana,  Territory,  316  ;  State,  498  ; 
State  system  of  schools,  554. 

Indians,  east  of  Mississippi,  6 ;  num 
bers,  ib.;  influence  on  European 
settlement,  7,  8,  15;  and  War  of 
1812,  488. 

Industrial  development,  early  co 
lonial,  3,  8;  in  Virginia,  27,  33,  3;"., 
39-41,  159,  163;  in  Plymouth,  (56-68; 
in  Massachusetts  Bay,  83 ;  eight 
eenth  century,  201-208 ;  in  1800,  435- 
438;  affected  by  War  of  1812,  487; 
Industrial  Revolution,  527-552;  do 
mestic  system  becomes  factory  and 
capitalist  system,  534;  and  labor 
movement,  1825-1837,  527-551;  and 
mechanical  inventions  of  18:>0-1850, 
561  ;  and  railway,  562  ;  and  farm 
machinery  about  1850,  644 ;  in  I860, 
(343-648  ;  after  1865,  730  ;  see  "  Big 
Business,"  Trusts,  Labor,  Tariff's, 
Manufactures. 

Industrial  panics,  see  Panics. 

Industrial  Revolution,  the,  435, 
527-552. 

Industry  in  common,  in  early  Vir 
ginia,  27;  in  Plymouth,  (57. 

Initiative,  the,  in  legislation,  827. 

Injunction,  "  Government  by," 
811. 

Interlocking  directorates,  791,  845. 

Internal  improvements,  in  Feder 
alist  administrations,  454;  and  Jef 
ferson,  453  ff. ;  National  Road,  455, 
491 ;  after  War  of  1812,  492  ff . ;  ve 
toes  of  Madison  and  Monroe,  492; 
and  J.  Q.  Adams,  519;  and  political 
parties,  520. 

International  law,  defined,  400 
note;  questions  at  issue,  in  1793, 
400-403 ;  in  1915-1917,  858  ff . 

International  Workers  of  the 
World  (I.  W.  W.)f  818. 

Interstate  Commerce  Commis 
sion,  784 ;  and  Supreme  Court,  785 ; 
and  Hepburn  Act,  786. 

Inventions,  mechanical,  in  early 
Massachusetts,  83 ;  American  genius 
for,  442  ;  leading  to  the  Industrial 
Revolution,  529-532;  in  1830-1850, 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


561;  and  railway,  562;  in  farm 
machinery  about  1850,  644.  See 
Steamboat,  Railway,  Bessemer 
Steel,  etc. 

Iowa,  621. 

Ipswich,  and  Andros,  150. 

Iron  manufactures,  colonial,  83; 
restricted  by  Navigation  Acts,  184 ; 
and  Industrial  Revolution,  522;  and 
vise  of  anthracite,  561;  in  the  New 
South,  727. 

Iroquois,  5-7,  15. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  at  New  Orleans, 
475;  at  Horseshoe  Bend,  488;  and 
tariff  of  1828,  511;  campaign  of 
1824,  517 ;  election  in  1828,  527,  563, 
574 ;  Jackson ian  democracy,  565 ;  the 
man  and  his  earlier  career,  567; 
spoils  system,  568;  and  the  veto, 
568;  problem  of  his  administration, 
574;  and  the  leaders,  575;  and  the 
Bank,  576-578,  586-587;  reelection, 
578 ;  and  the  nullifiers,  579-585 ;  and 
"  pet  banks,"  586;  and  specie  circu 
lar,  58!). 

Tacksonian  democracy,  con 
trasted  with  Jeffersonian,  565. 

Jamaica,  English  colony,  133;  im 
portance,  138. 

James  I,  22,  25,  42,  43 ;  and  attempt 
at  personal  rule  in  Virginia,  45;  and 
the  Pilgrims,  63. 

James  II,  and  New  England,  148  ff. 

Jamestown,  26 ;  a  plantation  colony, 
27;  suffering,  28;  burned  in  Bacon's 
Rebellion,  162. 

Jay,  John,  a  "moderate"  in  First 
Continental  Congress,  250;  rejects 
idea  of  independence  in  September, 
1775,  258 ;  and  peace  negotiations  in 
1783,  287,  289.  See  Jay's  Treaty. 

Jay's  Treaty,  404,  405;  and  inter 
national  arbitration,  406. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  on  Independ 
ence,  in  September  of  1775,  258; 
drafts  Declaration  of,  263;  on  new 
State  governments,  264;  suggests 
referendum  on  Virginia  constitu 
tion,  265 ;  presents  to  Congress  Vir 


ginia's  cession  of  the  West,  312; 
draws  Ordinance  of  1784,  ib. ;  draws 
Survey  Ordinance,  314;  on  titles, 
368;  Secretary  of  State,  370;  and 
Hamilton's  "  assumption,"  376,  377 ; 
a  "  Federalist "  in  1789,  385;  conten 
tions  with  Hamilton,  387  ;  organizes 
Republican  party,  387;  Vice  Presi 
dent,  389;  and  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws,  415  note ;  and  Kentucky  Res 
olutions,  415  note;  Presidential 
election,  419,  423,  424;  terror  of 
Federalists  at^  426;  the  man,  443; 
career  before  1800,  444,  445 ;  Ameri 
canism,  444,  446 ;  political  principles, 
446 ;  election  in  1800  a  "  revolution," 
447;  republican  simplicity,  447; 
specific  appropriations,  447 ;  and  the 
civil  service,  448;  and  the  courts, 
449-451;  reelection,  452;  establishes 
two-term  principle,  452 ;  centraliza 
tion  in  second  term,  453;  and  inter 
nal  improvements,  454-456;  and 
Louisiana  Purchase,  460 ;  and  West 
ern  exploration,  466-469;  and  for 
eign  relations,  470-472;  impover 
ished  by  industrial  changes  after 
War  of  1812,  487  note ;  and  genesis 
of  Monroe  Doctrine,  504  note. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  and  the  early 
labor  movement,  547;  introduces 
first  Homestead  bill,  641 ;  President, 
700 ;  and  Reconstruction,  700  ff . ;  im 
peachment,  705. 

Johnson,  Hiram  W.,  823;  and  elec 
tion  of  1916,  862. 

Judiciary,  see  Federal  Judiciary. 

Jury  trial,  in  early  Virginia,  37 ;  de 
velopment  of,  in  early  Massachu 
setts,  100. 

Kalm,  Peter,  on  influence  of  French 
Canada  upon  loyalty  of  British  col 
onies,  214 ;  on  need  of  English  con 
trol  in  America,  227. 

Kanawha,  Battle  of  the  Great, 
300. 

Kansas,  struggle  for,  635,  636 ;  state 
hood  delayed,  640;  admitted,  726. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  634,  635. 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Kaskaskia,  288,  292. 

Kent,  Chancellor,  denounces  de 
mocracy,  564. 

Kentucky,  settlement,  288,  299-301 ; 
the  "blue-grass"  region,  299;  and 
Dunmere's  War,  300;  Henderson's 
project,  301 ;  a  Virginia  county, 
301 ;  base  for  Clark's  conquest  of 
the  Northwest,  301 ;  separatist  move 
ments  in,  304-306;  statehood  and 
democratic  franchise,  306,  384. 

Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798- 
1799,  415. 

King's  Mountain,  Battle  of,  285. 

Knights  of  Labor,  805. 

"  Know-nothing  "  party,  the,  633. 

Ku  Klux,  the,  708. 

Labor,  wages  fixed  by  aristocratic 
government  in  colonial  Massachu 
setts,  87;  conditions  in  1775,  201; 
see  Servants ;  and  the  Revolution, 
231  c,  253,  265  note ;  in  1800,  438, 
442 ;  the  first  organized  "  move 
ment "  of,  in  1825-1837,  527  ff.;  see 
Industrial  Revolution;  the  long 
day,  539,  551;  child  labor,  539;  and 
free  schools,  540,  547-552;  unions, 
542;  and  strikes,  540  ff. ;  and  "so 
ciety,"  543;  and  the  courts,  544; 
and  the  press,  545 ;  political  organi 
zation,  548;  failure  in  the  panic  of 
1837,  546 ;  aims,  547 ;  "  man  and  the 
dollar,"  550 ;  in  1850-1860,  643 ;  since 
1865,  804  ff. ;  organization,  804-806; 
strikes,  807-812 ;  government  by  in 
junction,  811;  and  violence,  812; 
gains  by  legislation,  813  ff . ;  the 
eight-hour  day,  814, 815 ;  the  "closed 
shop,"  815;  and  the  Clayton  Anti- 
Trust  Act,  845;  and  the  World 
War,  873. 

Lafayette,  283. 

LaFollette,  Robert  M.,  823,  825, 
873. 

Land  policy,  see  Public  Domain. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  323,  326,  329, 

331. 

•Lee,  Robert  E.,  669  and  note,  700 
note. 


Legal  Tender  Acts,  673.  See  Paper 
Money. 

Legal  Tender  Decisions,  711. 

Lewis,  Meriwether,  467. 

Lewis  and  Clark  Explorations, 
467,  468. 

Lexington,  Battle  of,  255. 

Liberia,  602. 

Liberty  party,  618. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  youth,  494;  on 
Supreme  Court  and  Dred  Scott  case, 
638;  debate  with  Douglas,  639; 
presidential  nomination,  651;  elec 
tion,  652-654;  inaugural,  661;  pol 
icy,  662;  and  the  spoils  system, 
663;  and  Fort  Sumter,  663;  call  for 
volunteers,  664 ,  and  Fremont,  680; 
recommends  gradual  emancipation, 
with  compensation,  681;  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation,  682;  reelection, 
684;  murder,  694;  and  reconstruc 
tion,  698-699;  and  Negro  franchise, 
702  note. 

Livingston,  Robert  R.,  460,  463. 

"Living  wage"  for  women, 
813  a. 

Local  government,  development  in 
early  Massachusetts,  103-108;  New 
England  town  and  Virginia  county, 
167. 

Loco  Focos,  548,  551. 

London  Company,  22-25,  32-38,  42- 
43. 

Lorimer,  Senator,  expulsion,  841. 

Louisiana,  515. 

Louisiana  Purchase,  460 ;  and  con 
stitutional  questions,  461 ;  and  West 
Florida  and  Texas,  462-465 ;  and  the 
Federalists,  477. 

L'Ouverture,  Toussaint,  4(50. 

Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  611. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  quoted  on 
New  England  schools,  199;  on 
national  growth,  608 ;  on  Dred  Scott 
decision,  638;  on  right  of  secession, 
659 ;  on  Sumter,  644. 

Loyalists,  in  American  Revolution, 
276,  277,  284,  290. 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  608. 

Lundy's  Lane,  Battle  of,  475, 


INDEX 


36 


References  are  to  sections 


Lusitania,  the,  sinking,  and  contro 
versy  regarding,  861. 

Lyon,  Mathew,  and  Sedition  law, 
414. 

McCulloch  K.  Maryland,  512. 

McDonald,  William,  on  "  We  the 
people"  and  Webster,  362;  on  Web 
ster's  Reply  to  Hayne,  580;  and 
passim. 

McKinley,  William,  and  tariff  cam 
paign  of  1888,  740 ;  election  in  1896, 
747;  and  Dingley  tariff,  ib.;  and 
Spanish- American  War,  759;  re 
election  in  1900,  769;  murder,  772. 

Maclay,  Senator  William,  objects 
to  "His most  gracious  speech,"  368 ; 
quotes  Adams  on  said  phrase,  ib.; 
and  Washington's  relation  to  the 
Senate,  369;  characterizes  Adams, 
Hamilton,  et  al,  369  note. 

Madison,  James,  and  call  for  Fed 
eral  Convention,  335;  "Journal" 
of,  336 ;  delegate  to  Federal  Conven 
tion,  337;  author  of  Virginia  Plan, 
342;  opposes  Connecticut  Compro 
mise,  344 ;  and  limitation  of  Federal 
franchise,  366;  explains  "We  the 
people,"  362;  characterized  by  Mac- 
lay,  369  note;  and  the  "Bill  of 
Rights,"  371;  and  the  Supreme 
Court's  jurisdiction  over  States,  373 ; 
and  Virginia  resolutions,  415  note; 
and  West  Florida,  464 ;  and  causes 
of  War  of  1812,  470 ;  President,  473 
and  note;  recommends  war,  473; 
after  1815,  487  note;  approves  sec 
ond  Bank,  392 ;  vetoes  "  Bonus  bill  " 
(internal  improvements),  392;  op 
poses  extension  of  franchise  in  Vir 
ginia,  564. 

Maine,  sinking  of  the,  740. 
Maine,  State  of,  498,  515. 
Maize,    importance  in  early  settle 
ment,  8. 

Mann,  Horace,  and  the  labor  move 
ment,  543 ;  and  educational  reform 
553. 

Manufactures,  colonial,  early,  39 
83;  and  Navigation  Acts,  184;  in 


eighteenth  century,  204-206 ;  in  1800, 
435;  and  Industrial  Revolution, 
which  see ;  and  War  of  1812,  487, 
526;  and  rise  of  protection,  see 
Tariff;  in  1830,  521 ;  in  New  South 
after  1880,  727;  and  recent  tariffs, 
749. 

Marbury  v.  Madison,  451. 

Marietta,  316. 

Marshall,  John,  denies  Supreme 
Court's  jurisdiction  over  States, 
373 ;  minister  to  France,  409 ;  Chief 
Justice,  451 ;  and  Marbury  v.  Madi 
son,  451;  and  implied  powers,  512; 
opposes  extension  of  franchise  in 
Virginia,  564;  and  Jackson,  586. 

Martin,  Luther,  and  the  names  Fed 
eralist  and  Anti,  358  note. 

Maryland,  colony  of,  50-57  ;  leads  in 
establishing  American  relation  of 
States  and  Territories,  308,  309. 

Mason,  George,  and  Virginia  Bill 
of  Rights,  262;  in  Federal  Conven 
tion,  337;  lonely  champion  there  of 
democracy,  339;  refuses  to  sign 
Constitution  and  opposes  ratifica 
tion,  343;  champions  the  West,  349; 
opposes  the  foreign  slave  trade,  351 ; 
favors  manhood  franchise,  356. 

Mason  and  Dixon's  Line,  171. 

Mason  and  Slidell,  seizure  of,  688. 

Massachusetts,  the  Bay  colony, 
73  ff . ;  becomes  a  Puritan  common 
wealth,  77-79;  the  "great  migra 
tion,"  79,  80;  life  in  early  days,  82, 
83:  aristocracy  and  democracy,  81- 
95;  Watertown  protest,  90;  first 
representative  government  in,  91, 
92;  social  classes,  94;  colonial  fran 
chise,  95;  development  of  ballot, 
96-98;  jury  trial,  100;  written  laws, 
101 ;  first  American  bicameral  legis 
lature,  102 ;  denies  free  speech,  102 ; 
ideal,  aristocratic  theocracy,  109- 
113;  local  government,  103;  reli 
gious  persecution,  114-119;  nullifies 
New  England  Confederation,  130- 
131;  and  Navigation  Acts,  138,  141, 
142;  under  Andros,  147  ff.;  and 
charter  of  1691,  153 ;  a  "  royal  prov- 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


ince,"  188;  resists  royal  demand  for 
fixed  salary  for  governors,  189 ;  and 
decay  of  Puritanism,  194;  and 
witchcraft  persecution,  196;  and 
schools,  199;  first  referendum  (on 
ratification  of  State  constitution), 
265 ;  first  modern  veto,  268 ;  church 
and  state  in  1780,  269;  graded  fran 
chise,  271;  Western  claims,  308; 
emancipation,  262,  602. 

Massachusetts  Bay  Charter,  75; 
transfer  to  America,  79;  question 
of  return,  84-86;  voided  in  1684, 
147;  second  charter  (1691),  153. 

Massachusetts  Bay  Company, 
74,  75;  merged  in  colony,  79. 

Matthews,  Samuel,  49. 

May,  Samuel  J.,  609,  632. 

Mayflower,  the,  64,  67. 

Mayflower  Compact,  the,  65. 

Merrimac,  the,  and  the  Monitor,  668. 

Mexico,  War  of  1846,  620-622;  and 
Monroe  Doctrine  in  1865,  712 ;  recent 
relations  with  United  States,  847, 864 

"Midnight  judges,"  422. 

Mississippi,  Territory,  306;  State  of, 
498. 

Mississippi  River,  question  of  navi 
gation  of,  for  the  early  West,  305 ; 
and  the  Pinckney  treaty,  407. 

Missouri,  498,  515. 

Missouri  Compromise,  515,  605; 
and  Kansas  Bill,  634;  and  Dred 
Scott  decision,  637. 

Mitchell,  John,  and  the  Coal  Strike, 
810. 

Money,  value  in  seventeenth  century, 
18. 

Monitor  and  Merrimac,  668. 

Monmouth,  Battle  of,  283. 

Monroe,  James,  and  Louisiana 
Purchase,  460;  after  1816,  487  note; 
veto  of  internal  improvement  bill, 
492. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  504,  505;  and 
Mexico  in  1865,  712;  and  the  Vene 
zuelan  Arbitration  in  Cleveland's 
administration,  758  c ;  and  Ger 
many  and  Venezuela  in  Roosevelt's 
administration,  772-773. 


Montana,  726. 

Montcalm,  182. 

Mormonism,  559. 

Merrill  Bill,  the,  677. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  denounces 
democracy  in  Philadelphia  Conven 
tion,  338;  work  in  Committee  on 
Style,  343  /;  opposes  Connecticut 
Compromise,  344;  jealousy  of  the 
West,  349 ;  advocates  limiting  fran 
chise,  356 ;  on  danger  in  Jefferson's 
election,  426;  delight  at  Hartford 
Convention,  481. 

Moten,  Charles  Robert,  721. 

Mugwumps,  738. 

Napoleon,  see  Bonaparte. 
National  Bank,  the  First,  380;  and 

implied  powers,  381 ;  Second  (1816) , 

492;  and  State  opposition,  512;  and 

implied  powers,  512;  and  Jackson, 

576-578,  586-587;  and  politics,  577; 

and  the  artificial  "panic"  of  1834, 

586. 
National  banking  system  of  1863, 

675. 
National  Republicans,  520 ;  become 

Whigs,  578. 

National  Road,  455,  491. 
Nat  Turner's  Rising,  610. 
Naturalization,  401    note;    law   of 

1798,  412;  repeal  of  said  law,  447. 
Navigation    Acts,    English,    1660- 

1663,  138-140;   after  1690,  184,  185; 

and  the  Revolution,  216,  220,  221. 
Nebraska,  726. 
Neutrality,  in  the   World  War, 

858,  864. 
"Neutrality    Proclamation"    of 

Washington,  386-398. 
New  England,  separate  colonies  to 

1660,  58-127 ;  Confederation  of,  128- 

131;    from    1660    to    1690,   145-153; 

under  Andros,  148-151;    settlement 

of  1691,  152,  153;  varied  occupations 

in  colonial  times,  206 ;  and  the  Union 

from  1803  to  1815,  477-483. 
New  England  Confederation,  128- 

131. 
New  England  Council,  the,  58,  74. 


INDEX 


37 


References  are  to  sections 


New  Hampshire,  120,  128;  royal 
province,  186;  referendum  on  first 
State  constitution,  265;  aud  eman 
cipation,  602. 

New  Haven,  120,  128,  131, 144. 

New  Jersey,  168. 

New  Mexico,  and  Compromise  of 
1850,629;  statehood,  726. 

New  Orleans,  Battle  of,  475. 

New  South,  the,  727. 

New  York,  under  the  Dutch,  169; 
representative  government,  170;  a 
royal  province,  186 ;  Western  claims, 
308  ;  cession  of  same,  311. 

Newburgh  Address,  Washington's, 
286. 

Newspapers,  colonial,  198;  and  the 
rotary  press,  561. 

Newtown,  80  note,  124,  125,  126. 

Nomination,  systems  of,  in  early 
Massachusetts,  91,  99;  in  Federal 
government,  by  Congressional  cau 
cus,  389,  517 ;  by  State  legislatures, 
517 ;  after  Jackson's  victory,  by 
conventions,  569,  570;  by  direct 
primaries,  825. 

North  Carolina,  fails  to  ratify  Con 
stitution,  261 ;  accedes  to  the  Union, 
384. 

North  Dakota,  see  Dakotas. 

Northeast  Boundary,  407,  598. 

Northwest  Ordinance  (of  1787), 
313. 

Northwest  Posts,  290.  See  Jay's 
Treaty. 

Nullification,  by  Massachusetts  in 
New  England  Confederation,  130, 
131  ;  threatened  in  Kentucky  in 
1798-1799,  415 ;  and  by  New  England 
in  Hartford  Convention,  482, 483 ;  at 
tempted  in  South  Carolina,  579-585; 
accomplished  in  Georgia,  586;  con 
trasted  with  "ri^ht  of  revolution," 
417. 

Oberlin    Collate,    admits    women, 

555. 

Ohio,  316,  384;    and  National  Road, 
•     453. 
Ohio  Company,  313-316. 


Oklahoma,  726. 

Ordinance  of  1784,  312. 

Oregon,  rise  of  question,  466-468; 
England's  claims,  503  ;  America 
claims  all  of,  503;  history  of  con 
troversy,  503,  617,  619;  and  the 
Progressive  movement,  826. 

Ostend  Manifesto,  623. 

Otis,  James,  216,  217,  227,  233. 

Owen,  Robert,  538. 

Pacifists,  and  the  World  War,  859, 
873. 

Paine,  Thomas,  259,  264,  324. 

Panama  Canal,  774. 

Pan-American  Congress  of  1889, 
758. 

"Panics,"  industrial,  of  1819,  509; 
artificial,  in  1834,586;  of  1837,643; 
of  1857,  643;  of  1873,  778,  780;  of 
1893,  756 ;  of  1907,  834. 

Paper  Money,  282,  324;  Civil  War 
"Greenbacks,"  673,  674;  Confed 
erate,  678;  from  1865  to  1878,  750- 
752;  and  the  legal  tender  decisions, 
673,  711. 

Parcel  Post,  838. 

Parker,  Alton  B.,  831  note,  842. 

Parker,  Theodore,  608. 

Party  government,  383  ff . ;  denned, 
393;  not  foreseen  by  makers  of  the 
Constitution,  390,  391. 

Paternalism,  in  government,  in 
French  colonies,  16;  in  early  Vir 
ginia,  27,  39. 

Peace  of  Paris  (1783),  287-290. 

Penn,  William,  171-175;  plan  for 
union  of  colonies,  213. 

Pennsylvania,  171-175 ;  and  internal 
improvements,  457,  496. 

Percy,  Captain  George,  28. 

Peters,  Rev.  S.  A.,  and  "  Blue  Law  " 
legend,  193. 

Petroleum,  731. 

Philippines,  the,  and  Spanish-Amer 
ican  War,  761-762;  ceded  to  U.  S., 
764;  described,  767 ;  "  imperialism," 
768;  administration,  770. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  608. 

Pickering,  Thomas,  and  Federalist 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


plots  in  1803,  477;  and  Hartford 
Convention,  481. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  633. 

Pike,  Zebulon,  explorations  of,  469. 

Pilgrims,  the,  in  Holland,  61,  rea 
sons  for  coming  to  America,  62; 
charter  from  London  Company,  63 ; 
negotiations  with  London  merchants 
for  funds,  63  ;  terms  of  partner 
ship,  ib.;  labor  in  common,  63;  set 
tlement  at  Plymouth,  which  see. 

Pinchot,  Gifford,  832,  836. 

"  Pine  Tree  Shillings,"  141. 

Pitt,  William  (the  Elder),  and  con 
quest  of  Canada,  214 ;  and  writs  of 
assistance,  216;  theory  of  taxation 
and  government,  228 ;  rejoices  that 
America  has  resisted,  230;  inca 
pacitated  by  illness,  239. 

Pitt,  William  (the  Younger),  on  the 
Revolution,  230. 

Plaistowe,  Josias,  deprived  of  the 
title  "Mr.,"  94. 

Plank  roads,  496. 

Plantation,  the  Southern,  in  colonial 
times,  163,  209. 

Plymouth,  place  named  by  Smith, 
58;  settlement  of  Pilgrims  at,  64; 
expectations  of  wealth,  66;  early 
history,  64  ff . ;  Mayflower  Compact, 
65;  hardships,  67;  failure  of  indus 
try  in  common,  68 ;  settlement  with 
London  partners,  68 :  political  de 
velopment,  69;  absorbed  in  Massa 
chusetts,  148. 

Plymouth  Council,  see  New  Eng 
land  Council. 

Pocahontas,  41. 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  556. 

Polk,  James  K.,  President,  617-618; 
and  Oregon,  619 ;  and  Texas,  620  ff . ; 
and  Mexican  War,  621-623;  and 
Cuba,  623. 

Pontiac's  War,  219. 

Population,  in  Virginia  in  1616,  33 ; 
in  1619,  35;  in  1624,  40;  in  Massa 
chusetts  in  1629-1640,  80;  in  1660- 
1690,  132;  in  Virginia,  1660-1690, 
154 ;  in  colonies,  1690-1760,  179 ;  in 
1775,  200 ;  in  1800,  432 ;  in  1830,  498, 


523 ;  in  1840-1850,  624 ;  in  I860,  643, 
646,  647 ;  after  1865,  724-726. 

Populists,  the,  735. 

Porto  Rico,  764. 

Preemption  Law,  the,  demanded 
by  labor  in  1830, 541 ;  enacted,  592. 

Presidency,  electoral  college,  353, 
390 ;  Twelfth  amendment,  424 ;  "  two 
term  principle,"  452;  gain  in  power 
after  Jackson,  567;  and  patronage, 
572.  See  Elections  and  Presidents 
by  name. 

Prigg  ".  Pennsylvania,  383. 

Primaries,  direct  nomination  by,  828. 

Priscilla  (Alden),  and  her  "mark," 
198. 

"  Progressive  Movement,"  the, 
since  1896,  825  ff . 

Progressive  Party,  organized,  844; 
in  election  of  1912,  845;  in  1916,  862. 

Prohibition,  833. 

"  Protection  "  in  tariffs,  in  1789, 374 ; 
after  1815,  507.  See  Tariffs. 

Public  Domain,  the,  acquired  by 
State  cessions,  308-311;  (for  exten 
sions,  see  Territorial  Growth) ;  na 
tional  policy  in,  in  1800, 458 ;  in  1820, 
489;  and  Foote's  Resolution,  580; 
Preemption  law,  592;  and  earlier 
"  settlers'  associations, "593;  Home 
stead  law,  541,  641,  677;  waste  and 
looting  after  1865,  732. 

Public  Service  Corporations,  de 
fined,  562;  and  "water,"  779;  and 
political  corruption,  798-802.  See 
Railroads,  Special  Privilege. 

Pullman  Strike,  the,  809;  and  "gov 
ernment  by  injunction,"  811. 

Puritanism,  becomes  factor  in  colo 
nization,  58,  77;  described,  59;  par 
ties  in,  59;  see  Plymouth  and  other 
New  England  colonies  by  name ; 
decay  after  1690,  194. 

Quakers,  persecuted  in   Massachu 
setts,  141.    See  Pennsylvania. 
Quay,  Matthew,  741. 
Quebec,  12 ;  Wolfe's  victory  at,  182. 
Quebec  Act,  248  note. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  479. 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Railways,  history  to  1850,  562 ;  1850- 
1860,  643;  Union  Pacific  and  other 
land  grants  after  1850,  715 ;  devel 
opment  aftet  1865,  728;  consolida 
tion,  729;  over-capitalization  and 
"water,"  778;  pooling,  780;  rates, 
781;  discriminations,  ib.;  granger 
laws,  782,  783;  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  784;  and  the  Courts, 
785;  and  Hepburn  Act,  786;  free 
passes  and  rebates,  ib.;  "commu 
nity  of  interest,"  786,  787;  seized 
by  President  Wilson  for  government 
operation,  787,  871. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  17;  charter, 
20;  colonization,  20-22. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  in  Federal 
Convention,  337 ;  distrusts  democ 
racy,  338;  presents  Virginian  Plan, 
342;  refuses  to  sign  Constitution, 
but  advocates  ratification,  343; 
champions  the  West,  347 ;  Attorney 
General,  370. 

Randolph,  John,  on  Adams  and  the 
judiciary,  421 ;  on  "  protection  "  and 
the  people,  507;  on  tariff  of  1828, 
511 ;  opposes  extension  of  Virginia 
franchise,  564. 

Recall,  the,  302,  827. 

"Reconstruction,"  695  ff. ;  Lin 
coln's  plan,  698-699;  and  Johnson, 
700-701;  congressional,  702-709; 
and  judiciary,  710;  closed  in  1776, 
718. 

Reed,  Walter,  and  Yellow  Fever, 
766. 

Referendum,  the,  826. 

Regulators,  the  War  of  the,  231. 

Religious  freedom,  toleration  in 
Maryland,  56;  refused  by  English 
Church  in  Maryland,  57;  denied  in 
England,  50,  61 ;  found  in  Holland, 
61 ;  rejected  by  Massachusetts  Puri 
tans,  114-118 ;  ideal  stated  by  Lord 
Brooke,  119;  and  by  Williams,  121; 
ideal  in  Rhode  Island,  120,  121 ;  and 
Rhode  Island  practice,  122,  123;  in 
Pennsylvania,  175 ;  in  Virginia  Bill 
of  Rights,  262  and  note;  state  and 
church  in  some  Revolutionary  State 


constitutions,  269 ;  and  first  amend 
ment  to  Federal  Constitution,  371. 

Representative  government  (co 
lonial)  ,  appears  in  Virginia  as  a  gift, 
37,  38 ;  saved  by  the  settlers  against 
designs  of  James,  45 ;  enlarged  un 
der  the  Commonwealth,  48,  49; 
established  in  Maryland  by  royal 
charter,  51;  development  in  Mary 
land,  52-54;  recognized  in  Gorges 
charter,  51;  slow  in  appearing  in 
Plymouth,  69;  development  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  89-92 ;  see  Connecticut; 
"real "  and  "  virtual  "  in  England 
and  in  America  in  1770,  225,  226. 

Republican  Party  of  Jefferson 
(1792),  387;  and  sympathy  for  revo 
lutionary  France,  395;  and  Ken 
tucky  Resolutions,  415;  victory  in 
1800,  447  j  divides  into  National  Re 
publicans  (Whigs)  and  Democratic 
Republicans  (Democrats),  520. 

Republican  Party,  the,  organized 
out  of  Anti-Nebraska  men,  636;  de 
fies  Supreme  Court,  638;  see  Civil 
War,  Reconstruction,  and  passim. 

"  Republican  simplicity/'  struggle 
for  in  Washington's  administration, 
368-369;  strengthened  by  Jefferson, 
447. 

"  Restoration,"  the,  in  England,  and 
colonial  history,  132  ff . ;  in  Virginia, 
157 ;  summary,  176-178. 

Revolution,  see  American  Revolu 
tion  ;  of  1800,  447. 

Rhode  Island,  116, 119 ;  and  religious 
freedom,  120;  founded,  121;  "civil 
things  only,"  121 ;  religious  freedom 
in  charter,  122;  practice  and  ideal, 
123;  rejected  by  New  ^England  Con 
federation,  128;  charter  of  1663, 144 ; 
trade  with  pirates,  186 ;  adopts  char 
ter  as  constitution,  265 ;  and  ratifica 
tion  of  Constitution,  384 ;  and  Dorr's 
Rebellion,  600. 

Right  of  Search,  explained,  402. 

"Rights  of  Man,"  in  Virginia  Bill 
of  Rights,  262. 

Robertson,  James,  296, 298, 302, 306. 

Robinson,  Pastor  John,  65,  66,  70. 


40 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Rockefeller,  John  D.,  789. 

Bolfe,  John,  41. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  and  Elaine, 
738;  Civil  Service  Commissioner, 
742;  and  Spanish- American  War, 
760,  763:  President,  772;  foreign 
policies,  772,  773;  Panama  Canal, 
774  -,  and  Coal  Strike,  810;  and 
courts  and  people,  813  note;  early 
career,  831;  administration,  832; 
and  Big  Business,  833;  and  panic  of 
1907,  834 ;  and  Taft,  835 ;  and  cam 
paign  of  1912,  841 ;  and  campaign  of 
1916,  862. 

Rough  Riders,  the,  760. 

Royal  provinces,  the  first,  44;  and 
Massachusetts  after  1691,  151;  at 
tempts  to  make  all  colonies  into,  186, 
187 ;  charter  of,  188. 

Rural  Credits  law,  846. 

Russell,  Charles  Edward,  819,  873. 

"  Salary  grab,"  the,  717. 

Salem,  74,  115. 

Samoa,  764. 

San  Doming-o,  773. 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  34;  obnoxious 
to  King  James,  42 ;  and  Pilgrims,  63. 

San  Jacinto,  Battle  of,  615. 

San  Juan  Hill,  Battle  of,  760. 

Santiago,  Battle  of,  761. 

Saugus,  80  note ;  iron  works  of,  83. 

Scotch-Irish,  179-180. 

Scott,  Winfleld,  621. 

Sea  power,  English,  in  French  War, 
182 ;  in  War  of  1812,  475 ;  in  Civil 
War,  668;  in  Spanish- American 
War,  761,  762 ;  in  World  War,  855  ff . 

Secession,  Southern  theory  of,  656 ; 
attitude  of  North,  657-659;  see  Civil 
War. 

Sectionalism,  and  geography,  2-5. 

Separatists,  see  Puritans,  Pilgrims, 
Plymouth. 

"Servants,"  Indentured  White,  ex 
plained,  24;  in  early  Virginia,  24, 
33,  39,  159;  in  Massachusetts,  81, 
94;  in  colonies  in  1775,  201,  202. 

Seventeenth  amendment,  828, 839, 
840. 


Sevier,  John,  296,  303,  306. 

Seward,  William  H.,  630,  631,  638, 
651. 

Shays'  Rebellion,  328,  329. 

Shelbourne,  Lord,  "  friend  to  Amer 
ica,''  230;  and  Treaty  of  1783,  287. 

Sherman,  Senator  John,  791  note ; 
on  Big  Business  as  "  king,"  796. 

Sherman,  Roger,  338,  344. 

Sherman,  William  T.,  669. 

Sherman  Act,  the  Silver,  755. 

Sherman  Anti-trust  Act,  the, 
791. 

Shipping  industry,  beginning  in 
Massachusetts,  83;  encouraged  by 
English  Navigation  Acts,  138;  in 
eighteenth  century,  206 ;  about  1800, 
435 ;  affected  by  European  wars, 
1792-1807,  470,  471. 

Single  Tax,  the,  823,  824. 

Sixteenth  amendment,  839. 

Slaughter  House  cases,  710. 

Slavery,  not  affected  by  Virginia 
Bill  of  Rights,  362;  attempts  to 
exclude  from  National  Domain,  312, 
313;  in  Federal  Constitution,  350, 
351 ;  in  Washington's  administra 
tion,  382,  383;  balance  between  free 
and  slave  States,  384,  515;  and  the 
South  in  1830,  522 ;  history  to  1820, 
601-605;  and  American  Revolution, 
601;  State  Emancipation,  602;  for 
eign  trade,  603;  and  District  of 
Columbia,  604;  attempts  to  repeal 
Northwest  Ordinance,  604  ;  1820- 
1830  (transition  from  defensive  to 
offensive),  605 ;  Compromise  of  1820, 
515,  605;  after  1830,  607  ff.;  and 
abolitionists,  608  ff. ;  and  slave  ris 
ings,  610;  and  free  speech,  611,  612; 
and  political  abolitionists,  613;  and 
extension  of  territory  (Mexican 
War) ,  615-623 ;  Wilmot  Proviso,  625  ; 
"Squatter  sovereignty,"  625  ff. ; 
and  Compromise  of  1850,  629"  ff. ; 
and  Fugitive  Slave  law,  631,  632; 
and  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  634;  and 
struggle  for  Kansas,  635,  640;  Re 
publican  party,  636  ;  and  "free 
land, "641;  and  Southern  industry, 


INDEX 


41 


References  are  to  sections 


648;  and  Southern  society,  649;  and 
Civil  War,  680-684. 

Smith,  Adam,  184. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  609,  632. 

Smith,  John,  30,  58,  63,  66. 

Smith,  Sydney,  on  America,  526. 

Socialists,  816-821,  873. 

Social  reform,  in  the  thirties,  549, 
558-560;  in  recent  times,  see  Pro 
gressive  movement. 

Social  unrest,  and  the  Revolution, 
231,  232;  see  Labor,  Progressive 
movement. 

Society  (American),  in  1775, 192-211 ; 
in   1800,  431,  442 ;    in  1830,  521  if. ;  I 
intellectual  ferment  in,  after  1830,  j 
557 ;  in  1860,  643-650 ;  in  1880,  724  ff . 

Sons  of  Liberty,  236. 

South,  the,  in  colonial  times,  163-167 
and  esp.  209;  in  1830,  522,  555,  556; 
in  18(30,  648  ff.,  653.  See  Civil  War, 
New  South. 

Southampton,  Earl  of,  34,  42. 

South  Carolina,  see  Carolinas  ;  and 
nullification,  579-585;  and  slavery 
after  1783,  603;  secedes,  655. 

South  Dakota,  see  Dakotas. 

Southern  Confederacy,  655.  See 
Civil  War. 

Spain,  in  America,  7,  9,  10;  checked 
by  defeat  of  the  Armada,  11 ;  and 
Virginia,  29 ;  colonial  policy  of,  136 ; 
cedes  Florida  to  England,  182;  re 
covers  Florida,  462 ;  and  navigation 
of  lower  Mississippi,  and  Pinckney 
Treaty,  407;  and  West  Florida,  462- 
464;  cession  of  Florida,  465.  See 
Spanish-American  States,  Spanish- 
American  War. 

Spanish-American  States,  inde 
pendence  recognized,  464,  504;  and 
Monroe  Doctrine,  504;  and  emanci 
pation  of  slaves,  601 ;  and  the  World 
War,  869. 

Spanish-American  War,  759-764. 

Spanish  Armada,  11,  20. 

Special  Privilege,  in  early  Massa 
chusetts,  92,  94;  and  Bacon's  Re 
bellion,  158-160;  in  Virginia  after 
1676,  164,  165;  and  recent  Progres 


sive  movement,  776  ff. ;  and  political 
corruption,  802.  See  Railways, 
Public  .Service  Corporations,  Tariff's. 

Specie  Circular,  of  Jackson,  589. 

Spoils  system,  in  the  civil  service, 
568 ;  and  party  machinery,  569.  See 
( "ti'il  Service. 

Squatter  sovereignty  (Popular 
Sovereignty),  in  the  Territories, 
625,  627. 

Stamp  Act,  the,  222,223;  agitation 
for  repeal,  233-236. 

Stamp  Act  Congress,  the,  235. 

Standard  Oil  '-Trust,"  789;  and 
rebates,  781. 

Star  Route  trials,  736. 

Star-spangled  Banner,  Song  of, 
475. 

State,  revival  of  functions  of,  823  ff. 

State  constitutions,  in  Revolution 
ary  days,  265-274;  referendum  in 
New  England  only,  265;  similarity, 
266;  features,  267  ff . ;  limitations 
on  democracy,  270-272;  amending 
clauses,  274. 

State  universities,  and  government 
aid,  315. 

Steamboat,  the,  459,  490. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  656. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  703. 

Stoughton,  Israel,  and  denial  of 
free  speech  in  colonial  Massachu 
setts,  102. 

Stuart,  Gilbert,  441;  and  the  "  Ger 
rymander,"  573. 

Submarines,  use  of  by  Germany, 
861  ff. 

Sub-treasury  plan,  591. 

Sugar  Acts,  of  1733, 185 ;  of  1764, 221. 

Sumner,  Charles,  633. 

Supreme  Court,  see  Federal  Judi 
ciary. 

Survey  Ordinance,  for  Public  Do 
main,  314. 

Taft,  William  Howard,  and  the 
Arizona  recall,  827;  President,  835; 
and  the  progressives,  836;  and 
Aldrich  tariff,  837;  and  Congres 
sional  campaign  of  1910,  838;  and 


42 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


Lorimer  case,  840;  defeat  in  1912, 
841,  844. 

Talleyrand,  460. 

Tammany,  defeats  Cleveland,  741; 
and  corruption,  800. 

Tariffs,  1789,374;  1791,378;  of  1816 
(Protective),  508;  1824,  510;  1828, 
511;  1832,  582;  1833,  584;  1842,  596; 
1846,597;  1857,597;  "war  tariffs," 
673;  and  Cleveland,  739  ff. ;  in  cam 
paign  of  1888,  740 ;  McKinley  tariff 
(1890),  743;  "Wilson"  (1893),  745; 
Dingley  (1897),  747;  Aldrich,  837; 
Underwood,  845. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  620;  President, 
627 ;  und  California,  628. 

Tecumthe,  488. 

Tennessee,  306.  See  Watauga,  Cum 
berland  Settlements,  Frankland. 

Territorial  Growth,  meaning  of,  in 
American  history,  317,  428;  and 
popular  exultation,  429;  treaty  of 
1783,  290;  Louisiana  purchase,  460; 
West  Florida,  462-465;  East  Florida, 
465;  Texas,  616-618;  Mexican  ces 
sions,  622;  Gadsden  Purchase,  623. 
See  Frontier. 

"Territories,"  policy  regarding,  de 
rived  from  Maryland's  demands, 
309,  310. 

Texas,  and  Louisiana  Purchase,  462, 
465;  rebellion  from  Mexico,  615; 
annexed  to  United  States,  616-618 ; 
boundary  question,  620;  and  Mexi 
can  War,  620. 

Thames,  Battle  of,  and  importance, 
475,  488. 

Thirteenth  amendment,  684 ;  rati 
fied  by  "  reconstructed  "  States,  701. 

Thomas,  George  H.,  669. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  718;  and  the 
Tweed  Ring,  800. 

Tippecanoe,  Battle  of,  488. 

Tobacco,  first  source  of  wealth  in  the 
colonies,  8,  39-41 ;  legal  tender,  164. 

Tocqueville,  Alexis  de,  page  282. 

Tories,  see  Loyalists. 

Townshend,  Charles,  238. 

"Trusts,"  devised,  789;  Workings, 
790;  attempts  to  control,  791  ff. ; 


Sherman  Act,  791;  growth,  792; 
State  laws,  793.  See  Interlocking 
Directorates. 

Turner,  Frederick  J.,  quoted  pas 
sim,  especially,  317,  490,  494. 

Tweed  Ring,  the,  800. 

Twelfth  amendment,  424. 

Tyler,  John,  594,  595,  596,  600. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  642. 

Underground  Railroad,  the,  632. 

Union  Pacific,  677,  715.  See  Credit 
Mobilier. 

Union  Party,  of  1860,  651-654. 

"  United  States,"  double  meaning 
of  term,  461. 

United  States  Steel  Corporation, 
792;  and  paternalism,  797. 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  198. 

University  of  Virginia,  and  Jeffer 
son,  444. 

Unpreparedness  for  War,  for  Pon- 
tiac's  War,  219;  for  War  of  1812, 
474,  475;  for  Civil  War,  667.  668 ;  for 
Spanish-American  War,  764;  for 
checking  Mexican  raids  in  1914,  847 ; 
for  the  World  War,  872. 

Uren,  William,  823;  on  direct  legis 
lation  in  Oregon,  826. 

Utah,  726. 

Valley  Forge,  278,  283. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  and  Loco- 
Focos  and  the  Labor  parties,  551; 
and  the  ten-hour  day,  551,  590; 
President,  590:  and  Texas,  616;  and 
campaign  of  1844,  617,  618 ;  and  1848, 
627. 

Vane,  Sir  Harry,  117. 

Venezuela,  arbitration  with  Eng 
land,  758  c;  Roosevelt  and  Ger 
many's  plans  regarding,  773. 

Vergennes,  214,  289,  290. 

Vermont,  democracy  of  first  consti 
tution,  273;  admitted,  384;  and 
emancipation,  602. 

Veto,  Presidential,  to  Jackson,  568; 
since  Civil  War,  744  note. 

Vicksburg,  Siege  of,  669. 

Vincennes,  288,  292. 

Virginia,  meaning  in  1600,  12 ;  patri- 


INDEX 


43 


References  are  to  sections 


otic  and  missionary  motives  for 
colonization  of,  17-24;  under  Lon 
don  Company,  25-43;  charter  of 
1606,  22,  25;  early  history,  see 
Jamestown;  charters  of  1609,  1612, 
32;  Northwest  claims,  32;  under 
Dale,  31 ;  Yeardley's  reforms,  36  ff. ; 
representative  government,  37; 
charters  from  London  Company,  37, 

38  ;     under    the   liberal    Company, 

39  ff. ;   prosperity,  40  ;    population 
in   1824,  40;   in   1634,  ib. ;   a  royal 
province,  43  ff . ;    free  government 
saved,  44,  45;    "Mutiny  of  1635," 
46 ;  enlarged  self-government  under 
the  Commonwealth,  48-49  ;    under 
the  second  Stuarts,  154  ff . ;  popula 
tion   in   1660,  154;    coming  of    the 
Cavaliers,  154-155  ;  political  reaction 
after  1660, 156-159 ;  special  privilege, 
158;  political  and  social  discontent, 
159;  and  Bacon's  Rebellion,  160  ff.; 
freehold  franchise  established,  162 
and  note ;  the  planter  class,  163, 164, 
165;  local  government,  167;  in  the 
pre-Re volution  agitation,  234, 239  ff . ; 
initiates   intercolonial   committees, 
244;   response  to  Boston  Port  Bill, 
249;    calls    First  Continental  Con 
gress,  and  first  Provincial  conven 
tion,  249  ;     development    of    State 
government    in,   257,   261 ;    Bill    of 
Rights,  262;    instructs  delegates  to 
propose    independence,    261  ;     and 
Dunmore's    War,    300  ;    claims    to 
West,  308 ;  cessions  and  the  Military 
Reserve,  311;    and  Western  settle 
ment  in  the  thirties,  499. 

Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolu 
tions,  415,  416. 

Virginia  Bill  of  Rights,  262. 

Virginia  Plan  (in  Federal  Conven 
tion),  342. 

Virginia,  University  of,  444. 

Walker,  Francis  A.,  quoted  on  con 
ditions  in  1783-1788,  324;  on  Shays' 
Rebellion,  328 ;  on  decline  of  Feder 
alism,  418. 

Walker  Tariff,  597. 


War  of  1812,  shameful  conditions 
from  1806,  470,  473;  and  American 
Fur  Company,  473  ;  and  sailors' 
rights,  473;  "warhawks,"  474;  un- 
preparedness,  474,  475;  war  on  the 
sea,  475;  raid  on  Washington,  475; 
Peace  of  Ghent,  476 ;  New  England's 
treason,  477-483  ;  final  judgment 
on,  484;  results,  485  ff.,  esp.  514. 
See  Manufactures. 

War  with  Germany  (the  World 
War,  or  War  for  Democracy),  848- 
873. 

Ward,  Nathaniel,  101. 

Washington,  Booker,  721. 

Washington,  Capital,  located,  376. 

Washington,  George,  and  Pon- 
tiac's  War,  219 ;  accused  by  English 
as  a  "  sorehead,"  232 ;  on  England's 
denial  of  jury  trial,  239 ;  commander 
of  Continental  armies,  256;  rejects 
idea  of  independence  in  spring  of 
1775,  258;  campaigns,  264;  the  one 
man,  280;  in '77-' 78,  283 ;  Newburgh 
Address,  286;  despair  at  disorders 
after  1783,  326;  on  Shays'  Rebellion, 
329 ;  interest  in  the  West,  334 ;  and 
the  Federal  Convention,  334;  Presi 
dent,  363  ff. ;  titles  for,  and  other 
ceremonial,  368  ff. ;  and  the  Senate, 
369;  Cabinet,  370,  381,  396;  not 
bi-partisan,  385  ;  and  Whisky  Re 
bellion,  379;  and  the  Bank,  381; 
Federalism,  388,  419;  unopposed  re 
election,  388;  refuses  third  term, 
389;  "Neutrality  Proclamation," 
396-398;  and  Genet,  397;  and  Jay 
Treaty,  404;  Commander  against 
France  in  1797,  410 ;  and  partisan 
ship,  419;  and  Revolutionary  land 
warrants,  442  6. 

Washington,  State  of,  726. 

Watauga,  settlement,  295-298  ; 
mother  of  Cumberland  settlements, 
302;  and  "  Frankland,"  303. 

Watauga  Articles,  democracy  of, 
298. 

"Watered  stock, "779;  amount,  796. 

Watertown,  80  note ;  "  protest  "  of, 
90 ;  leads  in  adopting  town  govern- 


44 


INDEX 


References  are  to  sections 


ment,  104;  removes  to  Connecticut, 
124,  126. 

Weaver,  James  B.,  755. 

Webster,  Daniel,  opposes  tariff  of 
1824,  510;  changes  in  1828,  511; 
opposes  extension  of  franchise,  564 ; 
debate  with  Hayne,  580;  and  Ash- 
burton  Treaty,  598;  and  Compro 
mise  of  1850,  630. 

Webster-Ashburton  Treaty,  598. 

Weeden  v.  Trevett,  327. 

West,  the,  in  1769-1788,  180;  demo 
cratic  influence  of,  211 ;  discrimi 
nated  against  by  older  sections,  231 ; 
in  the  Revolution,  231,  292 ;  story  of 
settlement,  293-316;  see  Watauga, 
Cumberland,  Northwest ;  democracy 
of,  298,  302;  meaning  in  American 
history,  317;  after  1815,  485-500; 
from  1830  to  1850,  523;  optimism 
and  democracy,  525-526 ;  and  woman 
suffrage  and  progressive  politics, 
823,  827,  829. 

West,  Benjamin,  441. 

West  Florida,  462-464. 

West  Virginia,  665. 

Wheelwright,  John,  117,  118. 

Whigs,  the,  origin,  520,  578. 

Whisky  Rebellion,  the,  378,  379. 

White,  Andrew  D.,  633  note; 
quoted,  633,  676,  799. 

White,  Rev.  John,  73. 

Whitfleld,  George,  197. 

Whitney,  Eli,  436. 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf ,  608 ;  on 
Webster,  630. 

Wigglesworth,  author  of  Day  of 
Doom,  195. 

Wilderness  Road,  the,  301,  493. 

William  III,  151,  152,  186. 

William  and  Mary  College,  198. 

Williams,  Roger,  character,  115; 
persecuted,  115,  116;  founds  Rhode 
Island,  116,  121;  and  religious  free 
dom,  121-123. 

Wilmot  Proviso,  625. 

Wilson,  James,  337,  344. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  on  the  Consti 
tution  and  democracy,  338;  restores 
personal  address  by  President  to 


Congress,  447  note ;  on  the  South 
in  the  Civil  War,  679;  on  Carpet 
bagger  government,  707 ;  and  trusts 
in  New  Jersey,  793  and  note;  and 
the  Supreme  Court,  813  a;  and 
railroad  eight-hour  law,  814;  nomi 
nation  for  Presidency  in  1912,  842; 
election,  844;  administration  —  do 
mestic  affairs,  845,  846 ;  Mexico,  847 ; 
and  European  War,  848  ff . ;  reelec 
tion,  862. 

Winslow,  Edward,  quoted  on  rea 
sons  for  leaving  Holland,  62 ;  on 
early  hardships  at  Plymouth,  67; 
career,  see  legend  to  portrait. 

Winthrop,  John,  governor  Massa 
chusetts  Company,  79;  leads  "  great 
migration,"  79;  foresight  and  self- 
denial,  80;  on  stop  to  immigration 
in  1640,  80;  on  disappointment  of 
Puritans  in  New  England,  81 ;  on 
personal  motives,  81 ;  averse  to 
democracy,  89;  and  Watertown 
Protest,  90;  and  the  democratic 
revolution  of  1634,  92;  and  Wil 
liams,  116 ;  and  religious  persecu 
tion,  117  ff. 

Wisconsin,  624. 

Witchcraft,  in  colonial  America,  196. 

Wolfe,  James,  182;  on  American 
militia,  218  note. 

Woman  suffrage,  829. 

Women,  hardships  in  early  colonies, 
82;  admitted  to  Oberlin,  555 ;  agita 
tion  for  "  rights  "  for,  in  the  thirties, 
560;  hours  of  labor  for,  in  factories, 
814  a ;  win  the  franchise,  829. 

Workman's  Compensation  Acts, 
814/. 

Writs  of  Assistance,  216. 

Wyatt,  Sir  Francis,  38,  46. 

Wyoming,  726. 

"X.  Y.  Z.,"  409. 

Yale  University,  198. 
Yeardley,  Sir  George,  34,  45. 
Yorktown,  capture  of,  286. 

Zenger,  John,  and  a  free  press,  191 ; 
a  "  redemptiouer,"  201  note. 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


HISTORY 


The  Ancient  World.    Revised  Edition 

By  Professor  WILLIS  MASON  WEST,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota 

PART  ONE,  Greece  and  the  East.  i2mo,  cloth,  324  pages. 
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study  of  this  book  a  series  of  striking  pictures  of  ancient  life. 

The  author  emphasizes  the  unity  in  historical  development; 
he  shows  that  national  life,  like  individual  life,  has  continuous 
growth  and  development,  and  that  a  knowledge  of  the  past  ex 
plains  the  present.  Every  experiment  in  government  in  ancient 
times  has  its  lesson ;  and  in  the  hands  of  Professor  West  history 
becomes  an  instrument  for  teaching  the  duties  of  modern  citizen 
ship. 

(1)  Most  stress  is   laid  on  those  periods  and  those  persons 
who  contributed  most  to  the  development  of  civilization. 

(2)  Space  is  found  for  the  exciting  and  the  picturesque  when 
ever  it  is  matter  of  historical  importance.     Narrative  and  biog 
raphy  abound. 

(3)  Little  weight  is  given  to  the  legendary  periods  of  Greek 
and  Roman  history,  and  the  space  thus  gained  is  devoted  to  the 
wide-reaching  Hellenic  world  after  Alexander,  and  to  the  Roman 
Empire  which  had  so  deep  an  influence  on  later  history. 

(4)  In   every  paragraph   the  leading  idea  is  brought  out  by 
italics,  and  illuminating  quotations  introduce  many  chapters. 

(5)  The  book  teaches  the  use  of  a  library  by  giving  specific 
references  to  topics  for  reports. 

(6)  There  are  forty-six  maps  and  plans,  which  are  made  the 
basis  of  study,  suggested  by  questions  given  in  the  text.     There 
are  also  one  hundred  eighty-one  illustrations  taken  from  authentic 
sources. 

88 


HISTORY 


Readings  in  Ancient  History ;    Illustrative  Extracts 
from  the  Sources 

By  WILLIAM  STEARNS  DAVIS,  Professor  of  Ancient  History  in  the 
University  of  Minnesota;  Introduction  by  Professor  WILLIS  MASON 
WEST. 

Volume  I :  Greece  and  the  East.     12010,  375  pages. 

Volume  II :  Rome  and  the  West.     12010,  423  pages. 

THIS  book  sets  before  the  student  beginning  the  study  of 
Ancient  History  a  sufficient  amount  of  source  material  to 
illustrate  the  important  or  typical  historical  facts  which  will  be 
mentioned  in  his  text-book.  The  volumes  are  not  designed  for 
hard  study,  to  be  tested  scrupulously  by  minute  questioning; 
they  are  meant  for  reading,  —  a  daily  companion  to  any  standard 
text-book  in  Ancient  History,  —  and  the  boy  or  girl  so  using  them 
is  sure  to  breathe  in  more  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  ancient 
world,  and  to  get  more  taste  of  the  notable  literary  flavor  per 
vading  Greek  and  Roman  history,  than  would  be  possible  from 
the  study  of  a  conventional  text-book. 

Volume  I  contains  125  different  selections,  of  which  the  follow 
ing  are  typical :  The  Ethics  of  an  Egyptian  Nobleman,  Inscrip 
tion  ;  An  Assyrian  Palace,  Maspero ;  The  Shield  of  Achilles,  The 
Iliad',  How  Glaucus  tried  to  tempt  the  Delphic  Oracle,  Herodo 
tus  ;  The  Ring  of  Polycrates,  Herodotus ;  How  Leonidas  held  the 
Pass  of  Thermopylae,  Herodotus ;  The  Last  Fight  in  the  Harbor 
of  Syracuse,  Thucydides ;  Anecdotes  about  Socrates,  Diogenes 
Laertius;  How  Lysias  escaped  from  the  "Thirty,"  Lysias ;  How 
Elephants  fought  in  Hellenistic  Armies,  Polybius. 

Volume  II  contains  149  selections,  including:  Brutus  condemns 
his  Own  Sons  to  Death,  Livy ;  How  the  Plebeians  won  the  Con 
sulship,  Livy ;  The  Honesty  of  Roman  Officials,  Polybius ;  The 
Reign  of  Terror  under  Sulla,  Plutarch ;  The  Wealth  and  Habits 
of  Crassus  the  Millionaire,  Plutarch;  The  Personal  Traits  of 
Julius  Caesar,  Suetonius',  A  Business  Panic  in  Rome,  Tacitus', 
The  Bill  of  Fare  of  a  Great  Roman  Banquet,  Macrobius ;  How  a 
Stoic  met  Calamity  in  the  Days  of  Nero,  Epictetus ;  The  Precepts 
of  Marcus  Aurelius,  Marcus  Aurelius. 

94 


HISTORY 


American  Government 

By  Dr.  FRANK  ABBOTT  MAGRUDER,  of  Princeton  University.     lamo, 
cloth,  487  pages. 

THE  practical  value  of  the  study  of  Civics  is  brought  out  in  the 
treatment  of  every  topic  in  the  new  American  Government. 
One  of  the  purposes'of  the  book  is  so  to  equip  pupils  that  they 
will  be  able  to  act  with  intelligence  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties  as  citizens. 

While  the  importance  to  everyone  of  a  good  general  govern 
ment  is  made  clear,  our  absolute  dependence  on  local  government 
is  shown.  Most  excellent  conditions  at  Washington  cannot 
make  comfortable  a  locality  where  local  corruption  causes  the 
population  to  labor  under  disadvantages  growing  out  of  inade 
quate  sewers  and  bad  water  supply. 

Throughout  the  book  the  economic  element  in  government  is 
emphasized.  That  is,  it  is  shown  that  most  legislation  origi 
nates  in  the  practical  need  for  money  in  some  part  of  the  commu 
nity.  The  book  has  a  thorough  treatment,  not  only  of  theoretical 
government,  but  especially  of  practical  politics,  caucuses,  mark 
ing  ballots,  registration.  Woman  suffrage  and  state  prohibition 
are  also  discussed. 

The  important  bearing  which  government  has  on  social  condi 
tions  is  emphasized  by  indicating  its  connection  with  good  roads, 
with  schools,  and  with  regulation  of  commerce. 

The  enormous  influence  of  the  judiciary  is  made  clear,  and'  it 
is  shown  how,  through  interpretation,  they  often  legislate.  It 
contains  a  frank  discussion  of  the  weaknesses  of  our  government, 
as  well  as  of  its  strong  points. 

The  book  is  beautifully  illustrated  with  handsome  half-tones, 
and  contains  a  large  number  of  maps,  charts,  and  plans.  The 
style  is  simple,  direct;  and  informal,  and  well  within  the  grasp  of 
young  pupils  in  the  high  school.  As  special  aids  to  pupils  and 
teachers,  questions  on  the  text  and  questions  for  discussion  to 
show  the  local  application  of  the  text  have  been  placed  at  the  end 
of  each  chapter. 

101 


HISTORY 


A  Short  History  of  England 

By  CHARLES  M.  ANDREWS,  Farnam  Professor  of  History  in  Yale 
University.  With  Maps,  Tables,  and  numerous  Illustrations.  I2mo, 
cloth,  473  pages. 

THIS  history  of  England  aims  to  present  within  the  compass 
of  about  400  pages  the  main  features  of  England's  story  from 
earliest  times  to  the  present  day.  The  book  traces  in  rapid  sur 
vey  the  development  of  the  people  and  institutions  of  England 
from  Anglo-Saxon  times  to  the  close  of  the  year  1911,  and  shows 
by  what  steps  the  primitive  organization  of  a  semi-tribal  people  has 
been  transformed  into  the  highly  complicated  political  and  social 
structure  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  British  Empire.  It  re 
tains  on  a  smaller  scale  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  larger 
work  by  the  same  author,  with  some  additions,  chiefly  of  a 
geographical  and  biographical  character,  and  many  omissions 
of  details. 

The  author  tells  a  clear  and  simple  story,  avoiding  technical 
expressions  and  yet  passing  over  no  important  feature  of  the 
history  that  is  necessary  for  the  proper  understanding  of  the 
subject. 

The  aim  of  the  book  is  to  be  instructive  as  well  as  interesting. 
The  narrative  is  made  as  continuous  as  possible,  that  the  pupil 
may  follow  in  unbroken  sequence  the  thread  of  the  story.  It  is 
accompanied  with  a  large  number  of  newly  selected  illustrations 
and  an  ample  supply  of  maps  and  chronological  tables.  The 
elaborate  bibliographies  contained  in  the  larger  work  have  been 
omitted  and  only  a  small  but  selective  list  of  the  best  books  in 
brief  form  has  been  retained.  The  history  has  been  brought 
down  to  date  in  matters  of  scholarship  as  well  as  chronology,  and 
contains  many  views  and  statements  not  to  be  found  in  the  larger 
work.  It  is  designed  as  a  text-book  for  half-year,  or  elementary 
courses,  but  it  might  well  be  used  by  any  reader  desiring  9 
brief  and  suggestive  account  of  the  main  features  of  England's 
history, 

92 


HISTORY 


History  of  the  United  States 

By  the  late  CHARLES  K.  ADAMS,  and  Professor  W.  P.  TRENT,  oi 
Columbia  University.    i2mo,  cloth,  630  pages. 

THE  authors  have  laid  the  stress  on  the  two  crises  of  Ameri* 
can  history  —  the  Revolutionary  War  and  the  Civil  War. 
They  have  treated  both  these  periods  very  fully,  and  have  en 
deavored  in  the  case  of  the  first  to  present  the  side  of  Great 
Britain  with  fairness,  while,  at  the  same  time,  bringing  out  the 
necessity  of  the  struggle,  and  the  bravery  and  wisdom  of  the 
American  patriots.  In  dealing  with  the  period  of  the  Civil  War 
they  have  aimed  to  give  the  Southern  side  with  sympathy  and, 
while  upholding  the  cause  of  the  Union,  have  sought  to  avoid 
recrimination,  and  to  give  each  side  credit  for  its  sincerity  and 
bravery.  The  other  periods  of  our  history  have  not  been  unduly 
subordinated  to  the  great  crises,  but  have  been  so  treated  as 
to  lead  up  to  them.  The  process  of  the  making  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  various  developments  in  its  interpretation  have 
been  fully  studied.  While  emphasis  has  necessarily  been  laid 
on  the  political  and  military  features  of  our  history,  the  social, 
industrial,  scientific,  and  literary  development  of  the  country  has 
been  given  due  space- 

The  following  are  some  of  the  special  features  of  the  book : 

Thirty-six  maps,  of  which  nineteen  are  colored. 

Two  hundred  and  three  illustrations,  reproduced  from  authentic 
sources.  Especial  care  has  been  taken  to  include  the  best  pos 
sible  portraits  of  eminent  men.  Some  of  these  were  taken  from 
private  collections  and  have  not  been  published  before. 

A  full  chronological  table. 

Foot-notes  which  describe  the  lives  of  persons  mentioned  in 
the  text,  in  order  that  the  narrative  shall  not  be  interrupted  at 
the  appearance  of  each  new  name. 

The  great  development  of  the  United  States  during  the  past 
decade  makes  it  imperative  that  an  adequate  history  be  kept  up 
to  date.  The  present  edition  covers  the  period  to  March,  1913, 
and  contains  a  full  account  of  the  chief  events  of  President 
Taft's  administration. 


HISTORY 


A  Day  in  Old  Athens 

By  Professor  WILLIAM  STEARNS  DAVIS,  of  the  University  of  Minne 
sota.  I2mo,  cloth,  254  pages.  Price,  $1.25. 

THIS  book  offers  a  vivid  picture  of  the  most  important  phases 
of  Athenian  life  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.     The  fascinating 
word  pictures  of  the  author,  together  with  the  numerous  illustra 
tions  from  drawings  based  on  vase  paintings  of  ancient  Greek  life, 
make  the  book  particularly  desirable  for  supplementary  reading. 

Ancient  History 

By  Professor  WILLIS  MASON  WEST,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota. 
I2mo,  cloth,  6c6  pages.  Price,  $1.50. 

THIS  book  is  in  complete  harmony  with  the  report  of  the 
Committee  of  Seven  of  the  American  Historical  Associa 
tion.  It  deals  with  the  Eastern  nations  and  with  the  Greeks, 
Romans,  and  Teutons,  the  elements  from  which  the  modern 
world  has  grown.  Its  aim  is  to  show  the  continuity  of  history. 
Little  space  is  given  to  legends,  or  to  anecdotes,  or  to  wars ; 
attention  is  directed  to  the  growth  of  society,  to  the  development 
of  institutions,  to  the  fusion  of  peoples. 

Ancient  Greece 

From  the  earliest  times  down  to  146  B.C.  By  ROBERT  F.  PENNELL. 
Revised  Edition  with  Plans  and  Colored  Maps.  i6mo,  cloth,  193 
pages.  Price,  60  cents. 

Ancient  Rome 

From  the  earliest  times  down  to  476  A.D.  By  ROBERT  F.  PENNELL. 
Revised  Edition  with  Plans  and  Colored  Maps.  i6mo,  cloth,  284 
pages.  Price,  60  cents. 

IN  Ancient  Greece  and  Ancient  Rome  the  leading  facts  are  pre 
sented  in  a  concise  and  readable  form.     Minor  details  and 
unimportant  names  are  omitted.     The  maps  and  plans  have  been 
drawn  and  engraved  especially  for  the  books,  and  contain  all  the 
data,  and  only  the  data,  necessary  for  following  the  story. 

95 


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LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-50m-12,'64(F772s4)458 


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History  of  the        1920 
American  people. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
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